National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC)

Significance

  • The Conference is being held to discuss the issues relating to the functioning of the Consumer Fora such as pendency of case and filling up of vacancies in the post of President and Members of the Commissions.
  • The Conference is being held at a crucial time, when the Government has introduced a new Consumer Protection Bill, 2018 in the Lok Sabha repealing the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 with substantial changes for meeting the emerging challenges faced by consumers in the new markets.

About NCDRC

  • The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), India is a quasi-judicial commission in India which was set up in 1988 under the Consumer Protection Act of 1986.
  • The commission is headed by a sitting or retired judge of the Supreme Court of India.

Statutory provisions

  • Section 21 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 posits that the National Consumer shall have jurisdiction to entertain a complaint valued more than one crore and also have Appellate and Revision jurisdiction from the orders of State Commissions or the District fora as the case may be.
  • Section 23 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986, provides that any person aggrieved by an order of NCDRC, may prefer an Appeal against such order to Supreme Court of India within a period of 30 days.

Laws protecting consumers in India

  • The Bureau of Indian Standard Act 2016:
    • The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act 2016 establishes BIS as the National Standards Body of India.
    • Besides containing provisions for establishing voluntary standards, the Act also contains provisions to bring under compulsory certification regime any article, process or service which it considers necessary from point of view of health, safety, environment, prevention of deceptive practices, security etc.
  • The Legal Metrology Act 2009:
  • The Act has come into force on 01.04.2011 and has repealed the Standards of Weights & Measures Act, 1976 & Standards of Weights & Measures (Enforcement) Act, 1985.
  • The Government ensures through the Act that all weight and measure used for trade or commerce or for protection of human health and safety are accurate and reliable so that users are guaranteed for correct Weights and Measurement.
  • The Essential Commodities Act 1955:
    • The Act empowers the Government to regulate prices, production, supply, distribution etc. of essential commodities for maintaining or increasing their supplies and for securing their equitable distribution and availability at fair prices.
    • Most of the powers under the Act have been delegated by the Central Government to the State Governments with the direction that they shall exercise these powers.
  • The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006:
    • The Act envisages regulation of manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import of food to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption and for consumers connected therewith.
    • The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under this Act for laying down scientific standards for articles of foods and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
  • The Competition Act, 2002:
    • The Act governs Indian competition law. It replaced the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969.
    • Under this legislation, the Competition Commission of India was established to prevent the activities that have an adverse effect on competition in India.
  • The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954.
    • The Act controls advertising of drugs in India.
    • It prohibits advertisements of drugs and remedies that claim to have magical properties, and makes doing so a cognizable offence.
    • The act defines “magic remedy” as any talisman, mantra, amulet or any other object, which is claimed to have miraculous powers to cure, diagnose, prevent or mitigate a disease in humans or animal.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

Image
Context Recently, US has decided to withdraw from the treaty due to several issues viz. Russia’s violation of the treaty, development and deployment of intermediate-range nuclear weapons by China etc. Russia has confirmed that the USA has decided to cancel the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed between Russian and the USA in 1987. The United States alleged that Russia is in violation of its INF Treaty obligations “not to possess, produce, or flight-test” a ground-launched cruise missile having a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers or “to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.” Russia denies that it is in violation of the agreement. On December 8, 2017, the Trump administration released a strategy to counter alleged Russian violations of the Treaty. About INF Treaty: Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty  (INF) is the cold war treaty signed between US and Russia in 1987. The INF treaty prohibits US and Russia from possessing, producing or t...
Read more

Geneva Convention 1949

Image
Why is it in news? Pakistan violated the Geneva Convention What is Geneva Conventions? The Geneva Conventions are a series of treaties on the treatment of civilians, prisoners of war (POWs) and soldiers. It is also known as the Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts. It was adopted in 1949. It includes four conventions, with three protocols added on since 1949. Their purpose is to provide minimum protections, standards of humane treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals who become victims of armed conflicts. These Conventions and their Additional Protocols set out how soldiers and civilians should be treated during armed conflict. What are the four conventions? Convention I: This convention protects wounded soldiers and ensures humane treatment without discrimination based on race, colour, sex, religion or faith, birth or wealth, etc. The convention prohibits torture, assaults upon personal dignity, and execution without judgment. It also grants the ri...
Read more

Forest Rights Act

Image
Recent News In a writ petition filed before the SC by some ‘conservation’ groups and a few relics of the forest bureaucracy challenged the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 or the Forest Rights Act as being contrary to the Constitution and therefore outside the powers of Parliament to legislate. This Act, subject to its criticisms and flaws, was a largely positive move by the government to redress historical wrongs and prevent the alienation of forest dwellers from their lands a factor that was indeed contributing to the destruction of forests in many parts of the country. On February 13, the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of lakhs belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) categories across 16 States, whose claim as forest-dwellers has been rejected under the Forest Rights Act. It ordered the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to make a satellite survey and place on record...
Read more