Nineteen of the 40 consumer district forums in the state are non-functional for the last four months because of vacant posts.
Nineteen of the 40 consumer district forums in the state are non-functional for the last four months because of vacant posts.
This fact, through a public interest litigation filed in the Bombay high court, highlights that the state government is not serious about working towards upholding consumer rights.
On Saturday, the country will mark 25 years of enacting the Consumer Protection Act.
The Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, which has been striving for consumer rights since 1975, has moved the high court, seeking directions to fill up the vacant posts.
The oldest non-political organisation also wants Anil Deshmukh, minister for consumer protection, and Bhagwan Sahai, principal secretary of ministry of consumer protection, to pay Rs1 lakh which would be credited to the State Consumer Welfare Fund.
Advocate Uday Warunjikar, appearing for the panchayat, said: “The situation is so bad that the forum members are holding additional charges. They keep shuttling from Mumbai to Raigad.”
The information obtained by the panchayat through the Right to Information states that of the 40 district forums, 19 are non-functional because posts of 12 presidents and 33 members are vacant. The State Consumer Protection Council, established in 2003, has not met even once. The District Consumer Protection Council has not yet been formed.”
The division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice RS Dalvi issued notices to the state government and president of the Maharashtra State Consumer District Commission to file their replies by January 17.
“This is a sorry state of affairs and the plea is not only to fill up the post within few months but to also levy a penalty on the authorities,” said Warunjikar.
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