Expressing displeasure over the provincial authorities for their failure to apprise the court of current status of a summary regarding proposed consumer protection law, the Sindh High Court (SHC) gave Sindh government’s counsel last warning to seek instructions from Sindh Chief Minister on the legislation and submit compliance report within two weeks.
A division bench was hearing a petition of Rana Faizul Hassan, representing the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) United Human Rights Commission through which he sought legislation on consumer protection.
The petitioner had stated that the provincial government of Sindh had failed to enact legislation on the consumer protection that caused exploitation of consumers in urban and rural areas of Sindh where they were being cheated by traders.
He submitted that Punjab province had passed a law in this regard and the district coordination officers were authorized to take immediate action against retailers if found involved in selling substandard items, but such a law did not exist in Sindh province.
He said that consumer protection laws had been enacted in all provinces except Sindh, and pleaded to the court to direct the government to make legislation in order to provide protection to citizens against substandard commodities.
The petitioner stated that earlier the provincial law officer had told the court that a summary regarding consumer protection law was sent to the chief minister for approval and the proposed Consumer Protection Bill is likely to be tabled in the provincial assembly in near future but despite passage of significant time, government had failed to do so.
