The number of consumer cases disposed of in 2022 stood at 1,82,248, which is higher than the number of cases filed in consumer commissions last year, the government said on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference on the eve of World Consumer Rights Day, Nidhi Khare, additional secretary, the Department of Consumer Affairs, said that the total number of pending cases across consumer commissions currently stands at around 5.4 lakh.
She highlighted that the vacancies in the national, state and district commissions have come down considerably in the last year.
As a result, Khare said the disposal rate of cases has improved.
In 2022, the total number of cases filed stood at 1,73,457 while the cases disposed of stood at 1,82,248 last year.
From July 2022, there has been more disposal of cases every month than consumer cases filed, she said.
There is one national consumer commission, 36 state commissions and 696 district commissions in the country.
Khare said the Department of Consumer Affairs will be celebrating World Consumer Rights Day, 2023 on Wednesday, 15th March 2023. The theme is 'Empowering consumers through clean energy transitions'.
According to a statement, the primary thrust is on deployment of technology to reduce dependence on traditional energy sources such as fossil fuels and enable a rapid transition to clean energy solutions that promote sustainability, security, affordability and access to consumers in the long term.
In line with the LiFE (Lifestyle for environment) movement launched by the Prime Minister, Khare said the Department has initiated creation of 'Right to Repair portal' to protect consumers against planned obsolescence i.e. designing a product with limited life resulting in increasing e-waste.
The Department is also planning to organize a hackathon for designing charging solutions that work with wearable devices with an emphasis on reducing 'electronic and electrical waste (e-waste)' and promoting a more sustainable consumer ecosystem, she said.
"Wireless charging methods are also being explored, which will help significantly in e-waste proliferation," Khare said.
The Right to Repair portal is expected to address the concerns on the price, originality and warranty of spare parts. It will enable consumers to be better informed about the product by mentioning methods to check authenticity of spare parts and information on country of origin, the statement said.
The portal will carry information for enabling consumers to self-repair, knowing about authorized repairers and promoting third-party repairers. The endeavour is to create an ecosystem for availability of genuine spare parts for the duration of warranty promised by the manufacturer.
With rise in the number of e-commerce grievances registered by consumers on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), the department is strengthened NCH technologically to ensure that it not only receives more complaints but also redresses common consumer grievances of refund, replacement and deficiency in service speedily.
NCH works as an alternate dispute redressal mechanism at the pre-litigation level wherein consumers can easily register their grievances by calling 1915 or through the mobile app. NCH is accessible in over 17 languages including recently added Maithili, Kashmiri and Santhali languages.
It is available 24x7 through an Omni channel system which includes NCH app, email, SMS and call. There has also been a rise in the number of dockets registered on NCH. The docket count has more than doubled from a monthly average of 37,062 in 2017 to 86,674 in 2022.
To facilitate online filing of consumer complaints, the E-Daakhil Portal has been set up which provides a hassle-free, speedy and inexpensive facility to conveniently approach the relevant consumer forum, dispensing the need to travel and be physically present to file their grievance.
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