Amendments in Consumer Protection Act

The Government is considering further amendments in Consumer Protection Act to make it more vibrant and effective. This was stated by Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution while inaugurating newly constructed building of Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission here today. He said that a dynamic society requires constant updating of existing laws to meet the welfare and development needs of the people. 

Stressing on speedy disposal of cases at Consumer Dispute Redressal Fora, Prof. Thomas said Government is implementing e-Governance project called “CONFONET” to built three tier information system at Consumer Fora which will help to dispose cases quickly. All the 35 State Commissions and 593 District Fora have been covered under this IT project. 

Highlighting the need of aggressive Consumer Awareness Programme, the Minister said it is very important to built consumer confidence at the time when markets are growing very fast and variety of new services are being introduced. Consumer has to be educated to protect his or her interest. Prof. Thomas said media can play a significant role in this endeavour especially to educate consumers against misleading advertisements. Such advertisements violate the consumer rights to information and inform choice, thereby causing him financial loss and even mental agony. The Minister expressed the hope that recent initiative taken by the Department of Consumer Affairs in this regard would get wholehearted cooperation by the media industry.