BASIC TERM Consumers : Any person who buys a commodity or service for use, is known as consumer. Consumer's Rights : Consumer has six rights. These are: a) Right to safety b) Right to be informed c) Right to choose d) Right to be heard e) Right to seek redressal f) Right to consumer educationIConsumer Exploitation : Consumer exploitation is a situation in which.a producer or a trader, delivers much less than what they had ney promised to the consumer. Consumer Movement : édrsuniee movement is a ’ growing realization that the interests of consumers need to be protected against unscrupulous sellers. Consumer Protection : Consumer protection are all — those measures that ROE the rights of ie consumers. Consumer Protection Act : This Act was passed in 1986. This Act provides for the establishment of Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies at DEEL: State and Naber Level.AGMARK:: AGMARK is a seal of government that guarantees the quality of few selected agricultural products. It is implemented under Agriculture Product Act, 1937, which was amended in 1986. Its products like honey, masalas, spices, etc.BIS : BIS stands for Bureau of Indian Standard. This protects the consumers from lack of quality and varying standard of industrial and consumer goods. On the other hand, AGMARK is meant only for agricultural products. : BIS & Ne veep: Codex Alimentarius Commission : |t develops food standards, guidelines and codes of practices for production and international trade in food products.THE CONSUMER IN THE MARKETPLACE Consumers participate in the marketplace by using a particular product. Had there been no consumer no company would exist. The status of consumer is more or’ less pathetic as far as consumer rights are concerned. You can take examples of shopkeepers weighing less than he should, company’ making false claims on packs: Then _ there are local sweetmeat sellers adulterating raw materials to produce the laddoos or barfis. You can recall. the case of dropsy because of adulterated mustard oil. No » matter how-bad quality you get, chances:are you.will get » a rude response from the shopkeeper if you dare to complain. If you have traveled by railways then you can recall the horrible taste of almost all foodstuffs being sold in trains. and on platforms. Even the food supplied by the rail pantry is of horrible quality.CONSUMER MOVEMENT * India-has long tradition of food adulteration, black marketing, hoarding, underweighing, etc. It was from the 1960s that the consumer movement began in India. Tillthe 1970s, consumer movement was mainly restricted to writing articles and holding exhibitions. _ But there has been an upsurge in the number of consumer groups in-recent times. The level of dissatisfaction with the sellers and: service — providers was “such an extent that the consumers had’ no choice but to raise their voice. After many years of organized struggle, the government was forced to take notice and finally the Consumer Protection Act pores was enacted in 1986. ;Commumers International In 1985 United Nations adopted the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection. This was a tool for nations to adopt measures to protect consumers and for consumer advocacy groups to press their governments to do so. At the international level, this has become the foundation for consumer movement. Today, Consumers International has become an umbrella body of 240 organisations from over 100 countries.DELHI HEAD-OFFicESAFETY IS EVERYONE’S RIGHT Reji’s suffering shows. how a hospital, due’ to negligence by the doctors and staff in giving. anesthesia, mS crippled, as udent for Reji’y Suffering Reji Mathew, a healthy boy studying in Class IX, was admitted in a private clinic in Kerala for removal of tonsils. An ENT surgeon performed the tonsillectomy operation under general anaesthesia. As a result of improper anaesthesia Refi showed symptoms of some brain abnormalities because of which he was crippled for life. His father filed a complaint in the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission claiming compensation of Rs 5,00,000 for medical negligence and deficiency. in service. The State Commission, saying that the evidence was not sufficient dismissed it. Reji’s father appealed again in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal ‘Commission located in New Dethi. The National Commission after looking into the complaint, held the hospital responsible* Right to Be Informed : A consumer has the right to have © correct information about a product. There are rules which ~ make it mandatory to mention ingredients and safety features on the pack of a product. Proper information helps a consumer to make informed buying decision. A pack of a product also needs to mention the MRP (Maximum Retail » Price) and a consumer can complain if the SElIe asks Fors more than the MRP. . a ee In recent times, ‘the right to Infor AaMON has been expanded “to cover various services provided by the Government.In October 2005, the Government of India enacted a law,” » popularly known, as RTI (Right to: information) Act, which - ensures its citizens all the information about the functions: of “government departments. The effect of the RTI Act can be understood from the following case. .Information about goods and services Waiting... Amritha, an engineering graduate afier submitting all the certificates and attending the interview for a job in a government department. did not receive any news of the result. The officials also refused to comply with her queries. She therefore filed an application using the RTI Act saying that it was her right to know the result in a reasonable time so that she could plan her future. She soon got her call letter for appointment.Right to Choose: A consumer has the ~ right to choose from different options. A seller cannot just offer to sell only one’ brand to the consumer. The seller has to _ offer various options to the consumer. This right i is usually enforced through. laws against monopoly trade.When choice is denied Abirami, a student of Ansari Nagar, joined a two- year course at a local coaching institute for professional courses in New Dethi. At the time of joining the course, she paid the fees Rs 61,020 as lumpsum for the entire course of two years. However, she decided to opt out of the course at the end of one year as she found that the quality of teaching was not up to the mark. When she asked for a refund of the fee for one year, it was denied to her. When she filed the case in the District Consumer Court, the Court directed the Institute to refund Rs 28.000 saying that she had the right to choose. The Institute again appealed in the State Consumer Com- mission. The State Commission upheld the district court's direction and further fined the institute Rs 25,000 for a frivolous appeal. It also directed the institute to pay Rs 7000 as compensation and litigation cost. The State Commission also restrained all the educational and professional institutions in the state from charging fees from students for the entire duration of the course in advance and that too at one go. Any violation of this order may invite penalties and imprisonment, the commission said.Where should consumers go to get justice? Right to Seek Redressal: if a consumer gets affected by false promises made by the producer or suffers because of manufacturing defect; he has the right to seek redressal. Suppose you took.a mobile connection and the bill shows many hidden charges which were ~ not explained to you earlier, Or the mobile company activated.a ringtone without your permission. Then you can go-to the consumer court to put your case. Let us take the case of Prakash. He had’sent a money- order to his village for his daughter’s marriage. The money did not réach his daughter at the time when she needed it nor did it reach months later. Prakash fileda case ina district level consumer court in New Delhi. All the steps he undertook are illustrated below.1. PRA SE! ND AKA Dp ASt 1 GOES THE MONEY ORDER BB ne aye hh hi HIS i i TU Ry DAUGHTE E Mn2 PRAKASH COMES TO KNOW THAT THE MONEY HAS NOT REACHED HIS DAUGHTER4 THE FOST OFFICE DOES NOT RESPOND * TO THE QUERY SATISFACTORILY5 PRAKASH GOES TO THE LOCAL CONSUMER *" PROTECTION COUNCIL FOR ADVICEPRAKASH GOES TO A CONSUMER COURT TO FILE A CASE. HE FILLS A REGISTRATIONFORM 6.qe HE HIMSELF PLEADS THE 8. THE COURT JUDGE VERIFIES CASE IN THE COURT9 THE JUDGE ANNOUNCES " THE COURT VERDICT.CONSUMER FORUM * The. consumer movement in India has led to the formation of various organisations locally known as consumer forums or consumer protection councils. They guide consumers on how to file cases in the consumer court. On many occasions, they also _ represent individual consumers in the consumer courts. These voluntary organisations also receive financial support from the government for creating awareness -among the people. ‘ * If you are living in a residential colony, you might have noticed name boards of Resident Welfare Associations. If there is any unfair trade practice meted out to their members they. take up the case on their behalf,COMPLAINT REGISTRATION Name of Complainer : Nature of Complaint : ¥ Address Location Details F p Shop Area/Street/Road No : Area/Street/Road No : Rice Trader | LPG Village :, Village : Ration Card | Others Mandal Mandal : District x Phone No : Complaint : Characters typed: (limit: 250) Submit |Consumer Courts: This is a three-tier quasi-judicial system. » The district level court deals with cases involving claims upto Rs. 20 lakh. The state level court deals with cases between Rs. 20 lakh and Rs. 1. crore: The national level court dealt with ‘cases which involve claims exceeding Rs. a crore. ( If acase is eemictal in district 1vel court, the consumer can also appeal i in state and then in National level courts. , District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (DCDRF) State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) The choice of court will depend on. the amount of transaction and relief you seek and the location where the _cause of action arises. ,Consumer panel cracks sss SS —=—ywn on cell spammers DU teacher gets amen a Rs 45,000 for flawed phone bill Insurance firm to pay 7,000 for theft puter #0 pay Re 20,000 compensation, | Insurance firm made for denying medical complaint or deficiency in service and directed the / Busi, Mess inst, ae Iti for ‘deceiy;, bute finedWold Brat 4 fear Aesi wt ara aim et she at a gaat arat tr ge st ang wen eT Sar ST Tari Wo are 2 to) OReiba ca oor OT ord 3 2ar 2 feos fein B aM 4 12:5 rad wai a ae aes HR 3.5 TAG HRA ‘Ras WoRd Gr fe Fran Be wet SE 500 > Pew a wi tas wai dda aera we Gana WE ores AS Gigad ae a Pee ae se fa wuger 1 Secorrae aga Wo wae we Seale dee ae Ras ae Wa ARR wie, Wat ad oA san Ua a daa EI rE} & aR i a i & i x cr ag Ae Gh aes] Ah or Bl fore Ch?NESTLE TO COOPERATE NESTLE India on Monday issued a statement saying, “We understand that con- sumers are concerned by reports that the authorities In Uttar Pradesh have found elevated levels of lead ina sample pack of Maggi noo- dies. We are fully cooperat- ing with the authorities who are conducting further tests and we are awaiting their results.” Nestle said that it had also jsut cisomles ot #Nc a\ to COMPS “ x taba Ome a —— Maggi Noodles from almost 600 product batches to an external laboratory for inde- pendent analysis and tested samples from almost 1,000 batches at its own accredited = laboratory. According to the statement, : the samples represent around 125 million packets. All the results of these inter- nal and external tests show that lead levels are well within the limits specified by food regulations. Ospitats de as @ Idonot endorse the brand anymoreas my contractis over... leven puta clause inmy contract where! Se Docs ‘abs bak‘National Consumers’ Day 24th December i is celebrated as the National ; Consumers’ Day. It was on this day that the Indian Parliament enacted the: Consumer Protection Act i in’ 1986, India is one of the few countries that have” exclusive courts for consumer redressal, The - -consumer movement in India has made significant ‘ - progress in. recent times, At present, there are more: than 700 consumer ‘groups. Out of them, about 20 25 are well organized and are recognized for their work. .CONSUMER DUTIES : -Make sure that your consumer rights are respected. - Complain if you are not satisfied with products and services even if you are not personally affected. ’ - Demand a refund or replacement for inferior products and services even if the money involved is small. - Read all documents caver betare signing and make sure that you understand the contents. - Be informed inthe language you understand.te NDS ee