Plea on consumers 'right to know': Supreme Court grants six weeks to states, others to file responses

New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted six weeks time to several states and Union Territories to file their responses on a plea which sought to declare that consumers have a "right to know" about the quality, purity and certification of products, besides the details of distributors and sellers.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing a petition which said "right to know" was crucial for consumers to make informed choices and to protect themselves from unfair or restrictive trade practices and unscrupulous exploitation.

In July last year, the apex court had agreed to hear the plea and sought responses from the Centre, various states and UTs and others.


During the hearing on Wednesday, petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay told the bench that so far, he has received responses from only few states, including Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Assam and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

"We grant six weeks time to the respondents who have not filed responses to file the same...," the bench said.

It posted the matter for hearing after three months.

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The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, has also sought a direction to the Centre and states to ensure that every distributor, trader and shop owner displays details of registration, including name, address, phone number and number of employees at the entry gate in bold letters on a display board visible to people.

"Right to know helps consumers avoid falling prey to fraudulent or deceptive distributor, dealer, trader, seller and shop owner, who might misrepresent product/services or disappear after sale, purchase and money transaction," it said.

The plea said if a consumer has an issue with a product or service, knowing details of the distributor, dealer, and seller is essential for filing a complaint and seeking redressal through consumer redressal forums.

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It said in essence, the right to know empowers consumers to be informed or protected and to make choices when engaging in sale, purchase and money transactions.

"Each consumer has right to be informed about quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard, and price of goods and services to protect him against unfair trade practices, restrictive trade practices and unscrupulous exploitation," it said.