Consumers missing out on all the fun

The performance of Punjab Consumer Protection Council, designed to run District Consumer Protection Councils (DCPCs) and District Consumer Courts (DCCs) for the protection of consumers’ rights is at the lowest ebb.
Only 13,580 aggrieved consumers knocked the doors of the DCCs and 4,904 cases were filed in the District Consumer Protection Councils for seeking remedies against public-private owned goods and services since March 2007 to October 2011.
The Consumer Protection Council was established in 2006 after promulgation of Punjab Consumer Protection Act 2005. DCCs are run by District Session Judges specially deputed by the High Court Lahore while District Coordination Officers (DCOs) are the heads of the DCPCs.
DCCs and DCPCs have been established in 11 different districts only, of the total 36 districts. The reason why more courts have not been established is the fact that these courts are not independent and function under the Punjab Ministry of Industries. Secondly, insufficient funds have been allocated for the establishment of courts and for increasing consumer awareness about their rights. Another drawback is that Consumer Protection Act was promulgated on the ground that a Consumer Court would be setup in every district of the province but since only 11 courts have been established, the act is more or less useless.
It has also been observed that if an aggrieved consumer approaches the Provincial Consumer Protection Council, the Council makes an effort to settle the matter between the consumer and the manufacturer, which could also explain the low number of cases in the courts. It is pertinent to mention here that the employees of the Consumer Protection Council were also used by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the dengue campaign, leaving the complainants stranded.
CASES FILED: According to data available with Pakistan Today, from March 2007 to October 2011, 2,384 cases were filed before Lahore District Consumer Courts while Lahore DCPC received only 443 complaints.
Bahawalpur is the leading district where 2,393 cases were filed against the public-private manufacturers and service providers. After Lahore, Faisalabad is the third district where 2,305 complaints were registered while Rawalpindi is at the lowest rank where only 290 cases were filed in district consumer court. Gujranwala, Sargodha and Bahawalpur are three leading districts where percentage of disposal of cases is 91 while Lahore is again behind in the number of cases disposed of with a percentage of 76.
‘EMPOWERED CONSUMER’: Talking to Pakistan Today Punjab Consumer Council Legal Deputy Director Shahid Abbas said the major cause of low average of cases was the lack of awareness, adding that the well-informed consumer is a powerful consumer and his department had organised several exhibitions, seminars and lectures at schools, colleges and universities to educate young consumers about their rights. He further said the consumer should develop the habit of checking manufacturing and expiry dates of the products besides reading ingredients and component parts of the product. “The consumer should insist on rate list and price catalogue of goods from manufacturers and traders and if they refuse to comply, the consumer could approach the concerned DCO against them,” he said, adding the DCO had the authority to even impose fine up to Rs 50, 000 to service provider or manufacturer. He said in case of hiring services, the consumer has a right to ask for the capabilities or qualifications of the provider of the service along with the quality of the products he intends to use. “Consumer Courts are bound to give a verdict within six months, there is no chance of delaying the case unnecessarily,” he said, adding. LHC Advocate Adnan Gul said consumer-oriented courts should be speedy in giving verdicts and there should be a system of paying the fine on the spot so that manufacturers and service providers should be careful about their products in future. He said if the complaint filed by the consumer is proved right in the Consumer Court then there is no further need of knocking the doors of the higher courts.