Over 5,000 Consumer Rights Cases Pending In AP

Delay in disposal of consumer petitions at district and state levels has dented confidence in redressal mechanisms and could pave way for rampant violation of consumer rights, say activists. 
    
A glance at data from the AP State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission reveals that 5,980 cases were pending in the state at the end of 2012. At 1,502, the number of pending cases in the three consumer forums of Hyderabad was the maximum among all forums till date. The two forums in addition to the first district forum in the city were established in 1995 and 1998 respectively due to the rapidly mounting number of cases. 
    
“According to the Consumer Protection Act, a petition should be disposed off in 90 days. But rarely do cases get disposed in the stipulated time frame owing to long drawn interlocutory arguments and several adjournments,” said a retired government employee who has been fighting a consumer case pertaining to the land he bought more than a decade ago. 
    
The rising cynicism among consumers regarding their rights is evident from the declining number of petitions filed over the years, point out activists. In 2012, only 755 petitions were filed as against 1,137 in 2011 and 1,190 in 2010 in the state. The disposal rate of the cases too has dropped since 2009-10 whereas in the 1990s and early 2000s, it was almost 100%. Of the 1,502 pending cases in Hyderabad forums, 1,435 were accrued between 2010 and 2012 alone. Activists say that the trouble lies with the implementation of the Consumer Rights Act. 

“Consumer rights should be protected irrespective of the size of a transaction. The Consumer Act is more than sufficient to protect us but its implementation is not proper,” said S Chandrashekar, an activist. 
    
Activists added that apart from lack of awareness, there is also a lack of clarity. A raging debate now is whether an RTI applicant, by virtue of paying a fee of Rs 10 for information, should be treated as a consumer. The confusion was brought to the fore in a recent instance when an RTI applicant from Nalgonda appeared before the district consumer forum appealing against non-disclosure of information by a government body. 

When the forum quashed his appeal, he approached the state commission to determine if he qualifies as a consumer. “But we could not clearly reply to his query,” said a source in the commission. But there have been orders in the past where RTI applicants have been regarded as a consumer.