Sir,
Consumers and protection of Consumer rights are considered as paramount but in UT of Jammu and kashmir, it appears that rights of consumers have been thrown to winds by the UT administration. After reorganization of erstwhile State in year 2019, established Consumer Foras as well as State Consumer Commission came to be closed and thereafter UT Administration constituted few District Consumer Commissions and the State Consumer Commission under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, but such District Consumer Commissions are yet to be constituted in every District and where such Commissions have been constituted are lame and handicapped because of the fact that either members are not appointed or infrastructure is equal to nothing. In District Jammu UT Administration till date has failed to appoint any member in District Consumer Commission and additional charges have been assigned to a member from District Kathua.
The lackadaisical approach of administration in appointment of permanent members for District Consumer Commission Jammu speak volumes about protection of Consumer rights. The State Consumer Commission is also working without President qualified as per Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and presently Commission is being headed by officiating President. As per the C.P.Act, 2019 State Commission can only be headed by a High Court Judge or a retired High Court Judge. The UT Government doesn’t seems to have any interest in protection of Consumer rights by providing the full-fledged Consumer Foras in UT.
Sanjay K Dhar
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