Lok Sabha Question No. 1213 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-27
Subject: Consumer Rights Day
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Shrirang Appa Barne, Ravi Kishan Shukla, Ravindra Kushawaha, Bidyut Baran Mahato, Subrata Pathak, Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Sudheer Gupta, Prataprao  Jadhav

## Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1213

TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.07.2021

## CONSUMER RIGHTS DAY

1213.  SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE: SHRI RAVI KISHAN: SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA: SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO: SHRI SUBRAT PATHAK: SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK: SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU: SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA: SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC  DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has celebrated World Consumer Rights Day recently;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the aims and objectives of celebrating the Day;
- (c) the details of the main theme of this year's World Consumer Rights Day;
- (d) the details of the programmes/ events organized during the World Consumer Rights Day;
- (e) whether the Government has set up any mechanism to effectively protect the rights of consumers and protect against market abuses, if so, the details thereof;
- (f) the number of consumer courts functioning in the country to protect the rights of the consumer and the number of cases disposed of during the last three years; and
- (g) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to strengthen Consumer Rights?

## ANSWER

## miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k jkT; ea=h ¼Jh vf'ouh dqekj pkScs½

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a) to (d) :  The World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated every year on 15 th March. This year's World Consumer Rights Day theme was 'Tackle Plastic Pollution'. Department of Consumer Affairs celebrated World Rights Consumer Day virtually in association with Centre for Consumer Studies, Indian Institute of Public  Administration  by  organising  an  online  Webniar  on  the  theme 'Tackling  Plastic  Pollution'.  The objective of the celebration was to generate awareness and engage consumers to adopt and promote more sustainable  consumption  practices  and  create  awareness  in  tackling  global  plastic  pollution  crisis.  Apart from events organised by Department, some industries bodies, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), National Law Universities also organised online events to celebrate World Consumer Rights Day.

(e)  to  (g)  :  Under  the  provisions  of  existing  Consumer  Protection  Act,  2019,  a  three-tier  quasi-judicial mechanism, called Consumer Commission, has been established at the District, State and National levels to provide simple, inexpensive and speedy redressal to consumer disputes. In addition to legislative measures, Department  of  Consumer  Affairs  runs  a  National  Consumer  Helpline  along  with  Zonal  Consumer Helplines in regional languages to deal with consumer grievances.

To further strengthen the consumer protection and rights, an executive agency called the Central Consumer Protection  Authority  has  been  established  as  per  the  provisions  of  CP  Act,  2019  to  regulate matters  relating  to  violation  of  rights  of  consumers,  unfair  trade  practices  and  false  or  misleading advertisements which are prejudicial to the interests of public and consumers and to promote, protect and enforce  the  rights  of  consumers  as  a  class.  In  addition,  provisions  have  been  made  in  the  Consumer Protection Act, 2019 for mediation as an alternate dispute resolution mechanism, product liability, making of  rules  by  the  Central  Government  to  regulate  unfair  trade  practices  in  e-commerce  and  direct  selling, penalty for adulteration of products and manufacture/sale of spurious goods. The department also runs a countrywide  multimedia  'Consumer  Awareness'  campaign  titled  'Jago  Grahak  Jago'  on  various  issues related to consumer rights and responsibilities across diverse subjects.

As per the information received from National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, details of  functional  Consumer  Commissions  at  States  and  District  level  is  given  at Annexure .   As  per  the information  available  on  CONFONET  portal,  during  the  last  three  years,  3,20,754 cases  have  been disposed by all Consumer Commissions across the Country.

*****

## ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (e) TO (g) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1213 FOR 27.07.2021 REGARDING CONSUMER RIGHTS DAY.

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## STATE-WISE DETAILS OF OPERATIONAL CONSUMER COURTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

| Sl. No.   | States             | Whether State Commission Functional   |   District Functional |
|-----------|--------------------|---------------------------------------|-----------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh     | Yes                                   |                    17 |
| 2         | A &NIslands        | Yes                                   |                     1 |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh  | Yes                                   |                    18 |
| 4         | Assam              | Yes                                   |                    23 |
| 5         | Bihar              | Yes                                   |                    33 |
| 6         | Chandigarh         | Yes                                   |                     2 |
| 7         | Chattisgarh        | Yes                                   |                    21 |
| 8         | Daman &Diu         | Yes                                   |                     2 |
| 9         | Dadar Nagar Haveli | Yes                                   |                     1 |
| 10        | Delhi              | Yes                                   |                    10 |
| 11        | Goa                | Yes                                   |                     2 |
| 12        | Gujrat             | Yes                                   |                    38 |
| 13        | Haryana            | Yes                                   |                    22 |
| 14        | Himachal Pradesh   | Yes                                   |                    11 |
| 15        | Jammu &Kashmir     | Yes                                   |                     2 |
| 16        | Jharkhand          | Yes                                   |                    24 |
| 17        | Karnataka          | Yes                                   |                    33 |
| 18        | Kerala             | Yes                                   |                    14 |
| 19        | Lakshadweep        | Yes                                   |                     1 |
| 20        | Madhya Pradesh     | Yes                                   |                    51 |
| 21        | Maharashtra        | Yes                                   |                    40 |
| 22        | Manipur            | Yes                                   |                     4 |
| 23        | Meghalaya          | Yes                                   |                     7 |
| 24        | Mizoram            | Yes                                   |                     8 |
| 25        | Nagaland           | Yes                                   |                    11 |
| 26        | Odisha             | Yes                                   |                    31 |
| 27        | Puducherry         | Yes                                   |                     1 |
| 28        | Punjab             | Yes                                   |                    11 |
| 29        | Rajasthan          | Yes                                   |                    37 |
| 30        | Sikkim             | Yes                                   |                     4 |
| 31        | Tamil Nadu         | Yes                                   |                    32 |
| 32        | Telangana          | Yes                                   |                    12 |
| 33        | Tripura            | Yes                                   |                     4 |
| 34        | Uttar Pradesh      | Yes                                   |                    79 |
| 35        | Uttarakhand        | Yes                                   |                     6 |
| 36        | West Bengal        | Yes                                   |                    25 |
|           | TOTAL              |                                       |                   638 |