Lok Sabha Question No. 2069 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-11
Subject: Pending Cases in NCDRC
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Shri K Sudhakaran

## Government of India

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2069

TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026

## PENDING CASES IN NCDRC

## 2069.  SHRI K SUDHAKARAN:

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

- (a) the  total  number  of  cases  currently  pending  in  the  National  Consumer  Disputes  Redressal Commission (NCDRC), State Commissions and District Commissions as of January 2026;
- (b) the  details  of  existing  vacancies  for  the  posts  of  President  and  Members  in  State  and  District Consumer Commissions, State-wise;
- (c) whether the Government has evaluated the impact of the e-Jagriti portal on the actual rate of case disposal given the continued delays in physical court proceedings and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Union Government is considering  a mandatory  "Zero-Vacancy" policy to  ensure that recruitment processes start six months prior to a seat falling vacant; and
- (e) if  so,  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure  that  100%  of  Consumer  Commissions  are equipped  with  functional  hybrid  (video)  hearing  facilities  to  address  geographical  and  physical hurdles for litigants?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

(SHRI B.L.VERMA)

(a) : As per Section 38 (7) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, every complaint shall be disposed of as expeditiously  as  possible  and  endeavour  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. The number of cases pending  before  National  Consumer  Disputes  Redressal  Commission  (NCDRC),  State  Commissions  and District Commissions as of January 2026 is as follows :

| S No.   | Commission(s)   | Pending cases   |
|---------|-----------------|-----------------|
| 1.      | NCDRC           | 16,382          |
| 2.      | SCDRCs          | 1,21,922        |
| 3.      | DCDRCs          | 4,36,029        |
|         | Total           | 5,74,333        |

(b) to (e) : 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.

Also, the Central Government has been continuously taking up the matter with the State Governments/UT  Administrations  for  expeditious  filling  up  of  the  existing  and  anticipated  vacancies  of President  and  Members  of  the  Consumer  Commissions.  The  details  of  existing  vacancies  in  State  and District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission are at Annexure .

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).

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.  In  2025, 1,62,474 cases were filed and 1,50,197 disposed of, that outperformed the disposal rate of the year 2024. Also, 572 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) registered their complaints using e-Jagriti portal from abroad till December, 2025.

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ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (b)  TO  (e)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  2069  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  11.02.2026  REGARDING PENDING CASES IN NCDRC .

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## (As on 31.12.2025)

| S. No.   | State                   | State Commission      | State Commission   | District Commission   | District Commission   |
|----------|-------------------------|-----------------------|--------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| S. No.   | State                   | President Vacant Post | Member Vacant Post | President Vacant Post | Member Vacant Post    |
| 1        | A&N Island (UT)         | 1                     | 4                  | 0                     | 2                     |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh          | 1                     | 2                  | 4                     | 3                     |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh       | 1                     | 2                  | 0                     | 34                    |
| 4        | Assam                   | 1                     | 3                  | 0                     | 3                     |
| 5        | Bihar                   | 0                     | 0                  | 14                    | 36                    |
| 6        | Chandigarh (UT)         | 0                     | 1                  | 0                     | 2                     |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh            | 0                     | 3                  | 17                    | 20                    |
| 8        | D&N Haveli and D&D (UT) | 1                     | 3                  | 1                     | 1                     |
| 9        | Delhi (UT)              | 0                     | 0                  | 2                     | 2                     |
| 10       | Goa                     | 1                     | 2                  | 0                     | 0                     |
| 11       | Gujarat                 | 0                     | 3                  | 11                    | 28                    |
| 12       | J&K (UT)                | 1                     | 1                  | 6                     | 11                    |
| 13       | Kerala                  | 0                     | 2                  | 2                     | 5                     |
| 14       | Ladakh (UT)             | 1                     | 4                  | 2                     | 4                     |
| 15       | Lakshadweep (UT)        | 1                     | 0                  | 1                     | 0                     |
| 16       | Haryana                 | 0                     | 1                  | 2                     | 7                     |
| 17       | Himachal Pradesh        | 0                     | 0                  | 0                     | 9                     |
| 18       | Jharkhand               | 1                     | 3                  | 11                    | 17                    |
| 19       | Karnataka               | 0                     | 7                  | 15                    | 13                    |
| 20       | Madhya Pradesh          | 0                     | 4                  | 6                     | 34                    |
| 21       | Maharashtra             | 0                     | 2                  | 9                     | 21                    |
| 22       | Manipur                 | 0                     | 0                  | 0                     | 0                     |
| 23       | Meghalaya               | 0                     | 2                  | 0                     | 1                     |
| 24       | Mizoram                 | 1                     | 0                  | 0                     | 3                     |
| 25       | Nagaland                | 0                     | 1                  | 0                     | 0                     |
| 26       | Odisha                  | 1                     | 0                  | 0                     | 0                     |
| 27       | Puducherry (UT)         | 1                     | 2                  | 0                     | 0                     |
| 28       | Punjab                  | 1                     | 3                  | 6                     | 14                    |
| 29       | Rajasthan               | 0                     | 0                  | 2                     | 21                    |
| 30       | Sikkim                  | 1                     | 2                  | 0                     | 4                     |
| 31       | Tamilnadu               | 0                     | 5                  | 7                     | 18                    |
| 32       | Telangana               | 1                     | 0                  | 3                     | 3                     |
| 33       | Tripura                 | 1                     | 0                  | 0                     | 2                     |
| 34       | Uttarakhand             | 1                     | 1                  | 9                     | 2                     |
| 35       | Uttar Pradesh           | 0                     | 7                  | 21                    | 36                    |
| 36       | West Bengal             | 0                     | 5                  | 18                    | 23                    |
| Total    | Total                   | 18                    | 75                 | 169                   | 379                   |

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