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Leena Nandan, Secretary of Department of Consumer Affairs on Monday said that about 17 States and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) have now enabled the e-filing mechanism for registering of consumer complaints online through the e-Daakhil portal which offers more convenient mechanism for consumers to file complaints from any location.
She said so far the facility is available at 449 locations and all States are expected to launch this facility in the coming days. Over 13,000 users have already registered online complaints. She said about 647 companies havebecome convergence partners of the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) during April-December 2020.
The NCH, set up under the aegis of the Consumer Affairs Ministry, receives on an average nearly 70,000 complaints monthly. Out of these, e-commerce (22 per cent) , telecom (7.7 per cent), banking (8.6 per cent) , electronics and consumer durable segments are the top five sectors against which complaints are received here.
The Ministry also stated that 172 notices have been issued since October 2020 by the Central Consumer Protection Authority, out of which 37 notices were for misleading advertisement and unfair trade practice and 135 for Violation of Declarations under Packaged Commodity Rules (including Country of Origin).
Nandan also said that the Ministry has taken up the issue of filling of vacancies at the consumer commissions in recent times with various state governments and has also asked them to set up mediation panels under the recently notified Consumer Protection Act. “We have also suggested to states that they can use the well-established Lok Adalats mechanism for speedy disposal of cases pending with consumer commissions, to strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism at the district levels,” she added.
The Ministry said that it had also recently engaged QCI to proactively monitor violations done by e-commerce players that are not making the key declarations on their portals such as country of origin, MRP, best before date among others provisions of the Consumer Protection Act and had issued show cause notices to them.
The Ministry has also increased consumer outreach through Panchayats, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Common Service Centres, Post Offices and Railways to create awareness regarding consumer grievance redressal process especially among rural consumers.
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