ADITYA RAJ DAS
The Centre has notified rules for Consumer Protection (Jurisdiction of the District Commission, the State Commission and the National Commission) Rules, 2021. The revised pecuniary jurisdiction for entertaining consumer complaints shall be upto 50 lakh rupees for District Commissions, more than 50 lakh to two crore rupees for State Commissions and more than two crore rupees for National Commission.
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 promulgates a three-tier quasi-judicial mechanism for redressal of consumer disputes namely District Commissions, State Commissions and National Commission. After the Act came into force, it was observed that the existing provisions relating to pecuniary jurisdiction of consumer commissions were leading to cases which could earlier be filed in National Commission to be filed in State Commissions and cases which could earlier be filed in State Commissions to be filed in District Commissions.
This caused a significant increase in the workload of District Commissions, leading to rise in pendency and delay in disposal of cases, defeating the very object of securing speedy redressal to consumers as envisaged under the Act.
Central Government held wide consultation with States and UTs, consumer organizations and law chairs and examined the issues that had created long pendency of cases in detail.