The consumers in central Kerala are left in the lurch owing to the absence of a permanent circuit bench of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Ernakulam. At present consumers have to travel to Thiruvananthapuram, where the commission is headquartered, to get their grievances addressed.
Though a camp sitting has been started in here as per the the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, it is unable to cater to the needs of consumers with just two sittings in a month.
D B Binu, state general secretary, Kerala Human Rights Defence Forum, said that a permanent bench would be of immense help in settling many disputes where the value of the goods or services and compensations claimed is between `5 lakh and `20 lakh. As per the provisions of the Act, the district commission can only deal with complaints wherein the value of the goods and services and the compensation are below ` 5 lakh, he said.
Binu said that a lot of cases are pending before the Commission. “In the absence of a circuit bench the very purpose of the Commission will not be served. Being the commercial capital of the state, the number of consumer petitions is high in Ernakulam. The number of sittings of the circuit bench here should be at least two weeks a month,” he said.
Abdul Zona, president in-charge, Kerala State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, said that the commission has submitted a proposal to the state government to set up a circuit bench in Ernakulam. “The circuit bench has become a prerequisite to address the consumer issues from the grass-roots level. There are many medical cases in Ernakulam and we could not come up with an apt solution without a proper circuit bench there,” he said.
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