Lok Sabha Question No. 3110 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-11
Subject: State and District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Shri Mani A

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3110

TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.03.2026

## STATE AND DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSIONS

## 3110.  SHRI MANI A:

## Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Union Government acknowledges the role of the State and District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions  in Tamil Nadu  including the District  Consumer  Disputes Redressal Commission  in  Dharmapuri  in  providing  accessible,  affordable  and  technology  enabled  consumer justice;
- (b) if  so,  whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  of  improvements  such  as  increased  e-filing,  virtual hearings  and  higher  disposal  rates  in  several  districts  of  Tamil  Nadu  including  Dharmapuri,  while reviewing pendency and average disposal timelines;
- (c) if so, whether it is a fact that rising caseloads and limited sanctioned strength continue to cause delays in certain categories of consumer disputes;
- (d) if  so,  the  details  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  Union  Government  to  support  timely  appointments, infrastructure strengthening and digital capacity building;
- (e) whether  any  district-specific  interventions  are  proposed  to  further  accelerate  consumer  grievance redressal in Tamil Nadu; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI B.L.VERMA)

(a) to (f) : The  Consumer  Protection  Act,  2019  provides  for  a  three  tier  quasi-judicial  machinery  at District, State and National level commonly known as 'Consumer Commissions' for protection of the rights of consumers and to provide simple and speedy redressal of consumer disputes including those related with unfair  trade  practices.  The  Consumer  Commissions  are  empowered  to  give  relief  of  a  specific  nature  and award compensation to consumers, wherever appropriate.

Further, as per Section 38 (7) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, every complaint shall be disposed of as expeditiously as possible and endeavor shall be made to decide the complaint within a period of three months from the date of receipt of notice by opposite party where the complaint does not require analysis or testing of commodities and within five months, if it requires analysis or testing of commodities.

To serve the interest of speedy justice to the end consumers, Consumer Protection Act states that no adjournment shall ordinarily be granted by the consumer commissions unless sufficient cause is shown and the reasons for grant of adjournment have been recorded in writing by the Commission.

Under  the  provisions  of  the  Consumer  Protection  Act,  2019,  it  is  the  responsibility  of  the  State Governments  to  fill  up  the  vacancies  of  President  and  Members  in  the  State  Commissions  and  District Commissions. Further, as per Rule 6(4) of the Consumer Protection (Qualification for appointment, method of recruitment, procedure of appointment, term of office, resignation and removal of the President and members of the State Commission and District Commission) Rules, 2020, the process of appointments shall be initiated by the State Government atleast 6 months before the vacancy arises.

As per Section 32 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, if, at any time, there is a vacancy in the office of the President or Member of the District Commission, the State Government may, by notification, direct -

- a) any other District Commission specified in that notification to exercise the jurisdiction in respect of that district also; or
- b) the President or a member of any other District Commission specified in that notification to exercise the powers and discharge the functions of the President or member of that District Commission also.

The Department has launched 'e-Jagriti' portal on 1st January, 2025, which aims to enhance consumer grievance redressal through a micro-service architecture, Artificial Intelligence /  Machine  Learning integration  and  modern  features  like  faceless  onboarding  and  role-based  dashboards.  It  unifies  existing applications (OCMS, e-Daakhil, NCDRC CMS, CONFONET) into a single, scalable platform, allowing users to file complaints seamlessly from anywhere with multilingual support. The portal is designed to provide a convenient,  transparent  and  efficient  means  for  consumers  to  seek  redressal  by  enabling  online  complaint filing, digital submission of documents, online payment of fees and also supports virtual courtrooms, enabling the  hearing  of  cases  remotely  and  ensuring  faster  disposal  while  reducing  dependency  on  physical infrastructure. These features address bottlenecks like geographical barriers, scheduling conflicts and manual interventions. Further, VC equipment for conducting hearing through video conferencing mode has already been installed and made functional at 10 benches of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) and 35 benches of State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions (SCDRCs) including Tamil Nadu SCDRC.

e-Jagriti  has  reduced  reliance  on  physical  proceedings  and  has  accelerated  justice  delivery.  The National  Consumer  Disputes  Redressal  Commission  (NCDRC)  and  State  Commissions  in  Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh,  Himachal  Pradesh,  Karnataka,  Madhya  Pradesh,  Meghalaya,  Nagaland,  Puducherry,  Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand achieved disposal rates above 100% after July, 2025. During the period 01.01.2025 to 26.02.2026, 9,499 cases were filed before the Consumer Commissions in the State of Tamil Nadu and 8,769 were disposed of. Out of these 9,499 cases, 2861 cases were heard through VC and 1954 cases were disposed of. During the period 01.01.2025 to 26.02.2026, the details regarding the number of consumer  cases  filed  and  disposed  by  the  Consumer  Commissions  in  the  State  of  Tamil  Nadu  are  at Annexure .

The responsibility for establishment of Consumer Commissions in the States as well as providing all necessary infrastructure for their effective functioning rests with the State Governments. However, the Central Government  has  been  extending  financial  assistance  under  the  Strengthening  of  Consumer  Commissions (SCC)  Scheme  to  the  State  Governments  to  meet  the  gaps  in  resources  for  ensuring  a  basic  minimum infrastructure  (both  building  and  non-building)  required  for  the  effective  functioning  of  the  Consumer Commissions and for honouring the shared responsibility of consumer protection.

Under the SCC scheme, the  Central  Government's  assistance for building purposes,  is    limited  to creation of built up area of 5,000 square feet in respect of a District Commission building and 11,000 square feet in respect of a State Commission building, which include 1000 square ft. for construction of a Mediation Centre (both for State Commission and District Commission).

Assistance  for  non-building  assets  is  released  within  the  overall  cost  ceiling  of  Rs.  25.00  lakh  in respect of a State Commission and Rs. 10.00 lakh in respect of a District Commission, irrespective of  the location of the Consumer Commission. Under the SCC Scheme, the Department has released funds to the tune of Rs 13.93 crores to the State of Tamil Nadu for upgrading the infrastructure of the consumer commissions located within the State.

****

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (f)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3110 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.03.2026 REGARDING STATE AND DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSIONS.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

| Sl. No.   | Commission            |   Filed |   Disposed (also includes the cases disposed which were filed in the previous years) |
|-----------|-----------------------|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1         | CIRCUIT BENCH MADURAI |    1116 |                                                                                  282 |
| 2         | TAMIL NADU SCDRC      |    1629 |                                                                                  789 |
| 3         | Cuddalore             |     108 |                                                                                  137 |
| 4         | Dharmapuri            |     229 |                                                                                  223 |
| 5         | Dindigul              |      55 |                                                                                  123 |
| 6         | Erode                 |     162 |                                                                                  194 |
| 7         | Kancheepuram          |     360 |                                                                                  376 |
| 8         | Kanyakumari           |     195 |                                                                                  197 |
| 9         | Karur                 |      73 |                                                                                   60 |
| 10        | Madurai               |     404 |                                                                                  454 |
| 11        | Nagapattinam          |     111 |                                                                                  110 |
| 12        | Namakkal              |     170 |                                                                                  248 |
| 13        | North Chennai         |     387 |                                                                                  442 |
| 14        | Perambalur            |      53 |                                                                                   73 |
| 15        | Pudukkottai           |     130 |                                                                                  170 |
| 16        | Ramanathapuram        |      48 |                                                                                   65 |
| 17        | Salem                 |     247 |                                                                                  225 |
| 18        | Ariyalur              |      69 |                                                                                   80 |
| 19        | South Chennai         |     490 |                                                                                  892 |
| 20        | Thanjavur             |     337 |                                                                                  358 |
| 21        | Theni                 |     140 |                                                                                  145 |
| 22        | The Nilgiris          |      38 |                                                                                   38 |
| 23        | Thiruvallur           |     217 |                                                                                  221 |
| 24        | Thiruvarur            |     282 |                                                                                  152 |
| 25        | Thoothukkudi          |     274 |                                                                                  407 |
| 26        | Tiruchirapplli        |     284 |                                                                                  265 |
| 27        | Tirunelveli           |     360 |                                                                                  554 |
| 28        | Tiruppur              |     138 |                                                                                  148 |
| 29        | Tiruvannamalai        |     157 |                                                                                  123 |
| 30        | Vellore               |     197 |                                                                                  212 |
| 31        | Viluppuram            |     260 |                                                                                  239 |
| 32        | Virudhunagar          |     146 |                                                                                  131 |
| 33        | Sivaganga             |      56 |                                                                                   58 |
| 34        | Coimbatore            |     577 |                                                                                  578 |
| Total     | Total                 |    9499 |                                                                                 8769 |

******