Centre promises instant justice to consumers

NEW DELHI: Consumers, particularly of banking and telecom companies, can look forward to a more friendly and hassle-free legal system where they could get their grievances addressed without painful delays.

The government is planning to amend the consumer protection law to make it easier for people to seek justice. The ministry of corporate affairs and the department of consumer affairs are working together on the proposed new regime.

The department that deals with consumer welfare has proposed that the new company law should make the top management of corporate houses sensitive and accountable in redressing consumer grievances. It has recommended that the new statute should mandate companies to install a system of faster redressal of consumer complaints, which should be monitored at the top-management level.

The department has recommended that complaint redressal cannot be left as an option but should be made mandatory to the statutory audit, which an independent auditor now performs on other compliance requirements. This would ensure a more serious response from company executives who now follow elaborate procedures to sort out a minor customer complaint.

In addition, the corporate affairs ministry should consider having an independent ombudsman who could consider unresolved complaints. His decisions should be made binding on the company concerned, the department has proposed.

The ministry of corporate affairs, has, in the meantime, told the department how it wants the consumer protection law to be amended to facilitate greater consumer welfare. The ministry wants the national consumer protection forum to be strengthened to address the complaints of the customers against companies.

Now, a consumer gets certain advantages when he approaches the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) instead of consumer courts. This will no longer be there once the MRTPC is replaced by a fully functional Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Consumer fora, therefore, have to be modified to address certain unfair trade practices. Once a customer files a complaint with the MRTPC, its investigation wing starts its own enquiry and appoints a lawyer to represent the consumer before the bench.

Often, companies feel compelled to sort out the issue when the director general of investigation issues a notice asking for information. Consumer courts do not have such an investigation branch that works for the complainant. The Competition Commission of India is designed to look into issues of larger economic interest.