Union Minister of Food and Consumer Protection Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday said the Consumer Protection Act will be suitably amended to make it more effective. The amendments have been finalised and will be tabled in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
Speaking on the achievements of one year of the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre, Paswan said under the amended Act the grievances of the consumers would be settled in less time.
The Minister announced, “Under 360 degree of the Consumer Protection Act, comprehensive amendments finalised in the Act to ensure quick, inexpensive and simple redressal of consumer’s grievances, enabling e-filing of cases and not requiring personal appearance till the stage of admission, and time bound admission of cases proposed. A Central Consumer Protection Authority also proposed to investigate unfair trade practices; initiate class action, order recall of replacement of defective products. Provision made for product liability to enable consumers to sue for damages caused by defective products or deficient services.”
Paswan also announced that an inter-ministerial group of key sectors like agriculture, food, healthcare, housing, financial services and transport has been constituted to facilitate policy coherence and coordinated action on consumer advocacy. An inter-ministerial committee to address problems of misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices has too been constituted, he added.
The Ministry has introduced a dedicated portal gama.gov to enable consumers to register their grievances against misleading advertisements. The complaints lodged are taken up with the relevant authorities or the sector regulators and the consumer is informed after the action taken.
“To provide a host of consumer services under one roof, Grahak Suvidha Kendras launched in six locations: Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Patna and Delhi on March 18. Such centres will be set up in every State in phased manner, said Paswan. He added they will provide guidance to consumers regarding consumer laws, the rights of the consumers, the procedure of approaching Consumer Courts and various other consumer related issues including quality assurance and safety of products.
Paswan said most of promises have been fulfilled and the on the remaining issues work was going on. “A very strong foundation has been laid for the development and a corruption free society is in the making,” he claimed.