SME Times News Bureau | 19 Feb, 2020
Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food &
Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday interacted with Industry
representatives to discuss threadbare the key provisions of the Central
Consumer Protection Authority and the rules and regulations which are being
formed under the New Consumer Protection Act.
Various Industry bodies and representatives such
as FICCI, ASSOCHAM, CII, DICCI, Amazon, HUL, P&G, Vodafone, Snapdeal,
Zomato, PAYTM etc took part in the discussions and agreed to work together for
providing consumers quality products and services.
Paswan stated that the Consumer Protection Act
2019 has simplified rules for quick resolution of consumer disputes in various
consumer dispute redressal commissions.
The Union Minister said that to prevent
unnecessary long litigations, Mediation has been introduced in all Commissions.
The industry representatives hailed Mediation as
a time and resource saving mechanism for better satisfaction of
consumers. To stop prolonged litigation, restrictions on number of
appeals have been provided in the Act.
Paswan said the good thing was that everyone
unanimously hailed the new Consumer Protection Act and all decided to work
together for betterment of consumers.
The Industry representatives also agreed to
strengthen their self-regulatory mechanism and provide all possible help to the
Department of Consumer Affairs.
The Union Minister stressed on the need to
regulate e – commerce and direct selling as at present there is no regulatory
body for these sectors and online purchases are increasing every day.
Paswan specifically mentioned about the process
of grievance redressal by National Consumer Helpline and Zonal helplines in
resolving consumer grievances.
He said Increasing number of consumers are using
Consumer App for registering complaints and has been a great success.
This App is being monitored in the Ministry. Shri
Paswan concluded by saying that, Involvement of trade and industry, civil
society organizations and above all consumer themselves is vital to keep a
check on the practice of unfair trade in the years to come.
Addressing the media after the interaction, Paswan
said that an investigative wing is envisaged to be formed under the aegis of
CCPA, which shall carry out inquiries and investigations in matters relating to
consumer rights, unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements.
The district collectors have also been empowered
to conduct investigations that affect interests of consumer as a class under
CPA 2019, under the aegis of CCPA.
The establishment of a central authority and
initiating action as a class comes as an additional mode of relief which can be
exercised along with individual consumers filing complaints to address their
grievances thereby having two parallel proceedings.