Consumer far away from being the king

patna: the much-publicised redressal of grievances of consumers through state consumer redressal commission and district consumer forums under the consumer protection act, 1986, has made little headway in bihar. it is due to indifference of the state government to creating proper infrastructure. not only the state-level commission is in poor shape, district-level forums, too, are yet to take any shape in various districts.consumers and buyers, cheated while purchasing goods or taking services, appear high and dry as the redressal of their grievances has become a far cry because of non-functioning of the forums and commission. a majority of the 38 district forums are defunct, and at least 12 of them are not properly constituted. in many others, even presidents and members have not been appointed. the state-level commission and the patna district forum are housed in a dilapidated building in a private house in a lane off the boring road. in many districts, the construction of the forum buildings is incomplete, or yet to start. “hellish conditions� prevail in the commission’s office here. over 4,787 appeal cases and 12,792 complaint cases are pending for disposal in the commission and various district forums, respectively, for over three to four years. the act, however, warrants that cases at the forum level be disposed of in three months, and at the commission level, in six months. the highest number of cases, numbering 2,788 and 2,071 are pending for years in patna and muzaffarpur district forums, respectively. president of the national consumer dispute redressal commission justice (retd) d p wadhwa wrote a strong letter to the chief secretary recently, pointing to the existing “horrible and deplorable condition in the state commission.� wadhwa has pointed to the “government’s failure to improve the condition of the district forums and also non-sanctioning of fund to carry even day-to-day business in the commission and forums.� the commission being defunct for the last several months, the state government appointed justice (retd) d p s chaudhary as president of the commission recently on the recommendation of the patna high court. on the prevailing condition in the commission’s office, chaudhary said: “once somebody enters the office of the commission, he will experience hell everywhere.� the president and two members of the commission share one small room as their chamber. there is one stinking toilet and no separate toilet for the lady member of commission. the commission has two members — venkataraman and ashma ahmed. the condition is so appalling that the lady member has either to go to her house or some acquaintances to attend to nature’s call. complainants, their lawyers and persons against whom complaints are lodged, have to stand in the cramped room of the president and two members during hearing of cases, chaudhary said. the state government, which had been allocated over rs 2.62 crore for creating infrastructure, like buildings, for the state commission and district forums, has failed to construct buildings. interestingly, repeated reminders of the centre about utilisation of the sanctioned money have failed to solicit any response from the state government.