3 hrs ago

Consumer Commissions Face Vacancies, Massive Case Backlogs Across India

Consumer commissions are bodies that help people solve complaints about products and services.

Many of these bodies do not have enough leaders or members.

Ten state commissions are without a president, and 19 have member vacancies.

Three states have no working members at all.

Because of this, thousands of cases are waiting for decisions.

Maharashtra has more than 34,000 pending cases.

Some cases have been waiting since the 1990s.

The report says low pay, few job applications and uncertainty over appointment rules are among the reasons for the vacancies.

This makes it harder for consumers to receive decisions quickly.

Key facts

Presidential vacancies: Ten state consumer commissions reportedly have no president.
Member vacancies: Nineteen state commissions reported vacancies among members.
Zero working strength: Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh have no working members in their commissions.
Largest backlog: Maharashtra has more than 34,000 pending cases.
Other major backlogs: Uttar Pradesh has more than 15,000 pending cases, Karnataka has a little over 9,000, and Haryana has about 8,700.
Oldest cited cases: The oldest pending cases date to 1994 in Maharashtra, 1995 in Kerala and 2000 in Uttar Pradesh.
Order-upload delays: 460 Karnataka orders and 805 Maharashtra orders across the Mumbai and Nashik benches had not been uploaded after more than six months.

theprint.in · 4 hrs ago