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Finally, consumer protection system to get investigating agency

The formation of the authority will also make it possible to file class action suits. Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan said that presently, the cases filed in consumer courts dealt with individual cases and not with class action suits.

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Ram Vilas Paswan
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To create a stronger consumer protection framework and give teeth to consumer protection laws, the Centre is working on forming a Central Consumer Protection Authority. The authority will be empowered to investigate complaints and make recommendations to consumer courts.

The formation of the authority will also make it possible to file class action suits. Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan said that presently, the cases filed in consumer courts dealt with individual cases and not with class action suits.

"If there is a problem with a bottle of packaged drinking water, the consumer can approach the consumer court and get justice for himself but not for the entire class (of consumers). If a bottle of water is bad, the entire lot may be bad, and if a car engine is defective, the entire batch may be defective," noted Paswan, adding that the proposed authority will look at granting relief to this larger class of consumers.

"The authority will make recommendations to consumer courts. Presently, the consumer courts do not have the authority to conduct investigations, which the authority will be able to," he said. The authority will also act against misleading advertisements, "which are not based on sense," order recall or replacement of defective products, and investigate unfair trade practices.

Paswan said the Centre was working on amending the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, in this regard, adding that the amendment was likely to be tabled in the upcoming monsoon session of parliament. Some of the amendments proposed also pertain to inexpensive redressal of grievances, enabling e-filing of cases, not requiring personal appearance till admission stage, and time-bound admission of cases. Provisions will also be made for product liability to enable consumers to sue for damages caused by defective products or deficient services.

Paswan said that a mediator for mediating between the opposing parties was also being planned.

To strengthen the quality assurance regime, amendments to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, have also been finalised. Moreover, the market surveillance for standards and testing of products will be made more effective.

Describing the controversy over the NDA's land acquisition ordinance as a manufactured one, Paswan said land was necessary to boost the manufacturing sector.

Pointing out that states developed when they had infrastructure and a strong manufacturing sector, Paswan stressed that development was impossible without job creation. "In the country, farmers have not taken to the streets (protesting the bill), but so-called leaders have," said Paswan.

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