Due to globalization and opening of
Indian markets to foreign players Indian consumers today have an access to
innumerable brands. In every industry whether it is
fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) or durable goods or service industry there
are more than twenty brands at national level catering to the needs of the
consumers. This situation of plenty is giving the consumer an opportunity to
choose goods and services from a wide spectrum. But is the consumer getting
value for money? why is consumer protection becoming
more important in today’s scenario? and is the concept
‘let the buyer beware’ still exists? or are we moving
towards consumer sovereignty?
Importance of
Consumer Welfare
Consumerism,
importance of consumers in the market, increasing awareness among consumers are some of the
important milestones in the development of consumer affairs in India. A country’s
economy revolves around its markets. When it is a seller’s market the consumer
exploitation is the maximum. When there are large number
of buyers and sellers, consumers enjoy a number of choices. Before enactment of
the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 India had a sellers
market. Thus, the year 1986 marks a watershed since then consumer protection in
India gained momentum.
Further liberalization of our
economy in 1991 gave opportunity to Indian consumers to get quality products at
competitive prices. Earlier in order to protect our own industries government
restricted foreign competition. This led to a situation where consumers were
getting very few choices and quality wise also our products were inferior. For
purchase of car there used to be a huge booking and there were only two brands
available. Nobody bothered about consumer interests and the attitude was
towards protecting our own industry.
Thus the need for consumer
satisfaction and consumer protection was recognized. A consumer is considered
as an inevitable part of a socio-economic –political system, where the exchange
initiated and transaction realised between two
parties, namely buyers and sellers has an impact on a third party ie, society. However, the inherent profit motive in mass
production and sales also offers the opportunity to many manufacturers and
dealers to exploit consumers. Problems of defective goods, deficiency in
service, spurious and duplicate brands, misleading
advertisements are rampant and often the gullible consumer falls prey to it.
A Brief History
On April 9,
1985 the
General Assembly of the United Nations passed a Resolution adopting a set of
guidelines for consumer protection and authorized Secretary General, United
Nations to persuade the member countries, especially the developing ones to
adopt policies and laws for better protection of the interests of the
consumers. Consumers today want value for money, a product or service that
would meet reasonable expectations, should be safe in
use and full disclosure of the product specification. These expectations are
termed as ‘Consumer Rights’. 15th March is observed as the World
Consumers’ Day.
This date has a historic importance
as it was on this day in 1962, when the Bill for Consumer Rights was moved in
the US Congress. During his speech President John F. Kennedy had
remarked: “If a consumer is offered inferior products, if prices are
exorbitant, if drugs are unsafe or worthless, if the consumer is unable to
choose on an informed basis, then his dollar is wasted, his health and safety
may be threatened, and national interest suffers.”
The Consumers International (CI),
formerly known as International Organisation of
Consumer Unions (IOCU), the umbrella body, for 240 organisations
in over 100 countries, expanded the charter of consumers rights contained in
the US Bill to eight, which in a logical order reads: 1.Basic Needs
2.Safety 3.Information 4.Choice 5.Representation
6.Redress 7.Consumer Education and 8. Healthy
Environment.
This charter had a universal significance as they symbolised
the aspirations of the poor and disadvantaged. On this basis, the United
Nations, in April 1985, adopted its Guidelines for Consumer Protection.
Consumer
Protection Act, 1986
India being one of the signatory to the
Resolution enacted the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 to fulfill its
obligation. The Parliament enacted the
legislation in December 1986, which came into force on April
15, 1987. The main objectives of the Act are to provide
for better protection of the interests of the consumers and for that purpose to
make provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities
for the settlement of consumers’ disputes.
The Act provides effective, people
oriented, broad based and efficient remedy to consumers against unfair dealings
and exploitation. The Act applies to all
goods and services whether by private, public or co-operative body unless it is
especially exempted by the Central Government by a notification in the Official
Gazette. The Act is an improvement over the other existing laws for consumer
protection as it is compensatory in nature, where as remedies under other laws
are basically punitive or preventive in nature and are designed to provide
relief only in specific situations. The
remedy under The Act is in addition to and not in derogation of provisions of
any other law for the time being in force. The Act gives statutory recognition
to six consumer rights, which are right to safety, right to information, right
to choose, right to be heard, right to seek redressal
and right to consumer education. The Act
postulates establishment of advisory and adjudicatory bodies to safeguard the
interests of consumers. The Advisory
structure is in the form of Consumer Protection Councils at Centre, State and
District levels. These Councils are constituted on public- private partnership
basis. The purpose of these bodies is to review the consumer related policies
of the Government and suggest measures for further improvements.
The Act also provides for
quasi-judicial adjudicatory machinery at three levels i.e. District, State and
National levels called District Forum, State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
At present, there are 621 District
Forums, 35 State Commissions and apex body the National Commission. The District Forum can adjudicate on matters,
where the value of claim is upto rupee twenty lakh, the State Commission, where value of claim is more
than twenty lakh but upto
rupee one crore and the National Commission, where
the claim is over one crore. These adjudicatory
bodies are quasi-judicial bodies and are regulated according to the principles
of natural justice. They are required to
decide complaint within a period of three months from the date of notice where
no testing is required and within a period of five months where testing is
required.
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986,
is a socio-economic legislation to protect and promote the interests of
consumers in a unified and effective manner. Consumer Protection Act is a weapon in
the hands of consumers to fight against the exploitation by the sellers,
manufacturers and traders related to defective goods, deficiency in service,
restrictive and unfair trade practices. From the time of its inception as on
January 1, 2010, the Consumer courts at National, State and District level have
together registered 33,30,237 cases and 29,58,875 cases have been disposed.
Disclaimer :
The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely her own and do
not necessarily reflect the views of PIB
RTS/VN
SS-58/SF-58/15.03.2010