Centre advises consumer commissions for timely resolution of consumer complaints across India

New Delhi, May 20 (PTI) To ensure speedy redressal of consumer complaints, the Centre on Friday said it has directed national, state and district commission chiefs not to grant adjournment for more than one month and adhere to the timelines provided under the Consumer Protection Act.

In a letter written to the registrars and presidents of national, state and district commissions, Union Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said consumer commissions may, as a measure of deterrence, impose costs on parties in case of more than two requests of adjournment by either parties.

"The letter states that frequent and long adjournments not only denies a consumer his right to be heard and seek redressal, but also takes away the spirit of enactment which the legislature intended," an official statement said.

Therefore, consumer commissions are requested to ensure that in no circumstance adjournment for a long period is provided, it said.

Drawing attention of the consumer commissions on the procedure on admission of a complaint as provided under Section 38(7) of the Act, the letter emphasised that every complaint is required to be disposed of as expeditiously as possible.

Endeavour should be made to decide the complaint within a period of 3 months from the date of receipt of notice by opposite party where the complaint does not require analysis or testing of commodities, and within 5 months if it requires analysis or testing of commodities, it said.

Further, the Act also stipulates that no adjournment should ordinarily be granted by consumer commissions unless sufficient cause is shown and the reasons for grant of adjournment have been recorded in writing.

The commissions are also empowered to make such orders as to the costs occasioned by the adjournment.

In the letter, the Secretary brought to their notice a decision of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the New India Assurance Company Ltd vs Hilli Multipurpose Cold Storage Private Ltd delivered on March 4, 2020, highlighting that consumer commissions have no power to extend the time for filing the response to the complaints beyond the period of 15 days in addition to 30 days as mentioned in Section 13 of the Act.

The same decision has been reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in other cases as well.

The secretary has also written to the chief secretaries of all states/Union Territories and all consumer commissions laying stress on encouraging consumers to file their complaints through the e-daakhil portal.

In the letter, it has been highlighted that all states/UTs have put in place the e-daakhil mechanism which has several features including e-notice, case document download link, and virtual hearing link, the filing was written response by the opposite party, filing rejoinder by complainant and alerts via SMS/e-mail.

"The commissions have been requested to sensitise and encourage consumers to file their grievances through the e-daakhil portal," it said.

The ministry is also organising a National Workshop on May 31 with the President and members of national, state and district commissions, as well as the Secretary-in-charge of Consumer Affairs in states/UTs to deliberate on making the dispute redressal mechanism more effective, speedier, and hassle-free for consumers.