Though Consumer Protection Act (CPA), 1986 was replaced by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 way back in the year 2019 which both the houses of parliament passed with the basic spirit of widening the scope of consumer rights and put to public scrutiny even e-commerce, tele-shopping and other multi levels of marketing in the fast changing era of digitization but unfortunately the Food Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs (FCS&CA) department of Jammu & Kashmir Government stung a surprise this week through an order just to exonerate itself from the basic duty of regulating retail prices of mutton and some other basic essential commodities in Jammu & Kashmir. Mandated to widen the scope of consumer rights act 2019 passed by the Parliament the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Department by exonerating itself from the basic duty of regulating retails rates of mutton and other essential commodities with reference to an advice of the central Government has put the consumer at the receiving end . What matters the most is the fact that while advice of any authority of the central or State/UT Government is not binding on any department of any State/UT or even any ministry of the central government , the enforcement of an act passed by the parliament with the motive of protecting certain basic public rights of the people are binding on all departments of the State/UT Governments and ministries of the central government. While under Central Government’s Consumer Protection Act 2019 the consumers have the right to seek redressal against what is called “unscrupulous exploitation of consumers”, the Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs(FCS&CA) Department has by exonerating itself from the basic duty of regulating prices of mutton and other essential commodities with reference to an advice of the Central Government denied to take care of the rights of the consumers under Consumer Protection Act,2019. While the fact remains that some businesses are involved in unfair trade practices and exploiting the customers, from which the customers need protection, the enforcement of the Consumer Protection Act guarantees the consumers the right to protection against exploitation by any business operator or service provider. It is also an irrefutable fact that under no circumstances no authority has the power to amend or modify any act of the parliament and question of delaying or deferring enforcement of any law passed by the parliament does not arise at all. So by all standards of understandabilities the authorities of Central/ State/ UT Government cease the power to deny or defer the enforcement of any act passed by the parliament with the purposes of protecting basic rights of the people including the regulation of services and goods primarily including essential commodities. The essential commodities are not regulated in Jammu & Kashmir only but are in fact regulated strictly in all the states and union territories of the country in the larger public interests.
“Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 every complaint has to be disposed of as expeditiously as possible and endeavour has to be made to decide the complaint within a period of 3 months from the date of receipt of notice by opposite party where the complaint does not require analysis or testing of commodities and within 5 months if it requires analysis or testing of commodities. With sweeping powers to District Consumer Redressal Commissions established by the Government last year no scope is left for the Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) department to exonerate itself from regulating price of muttons or any other essential commodity be it eggs, poultry chicken or any other essential commodity. It simply shows that capacity of the officers to regulate the prices of essential commodities has virtually exhausted and as such deserves immediate attention and intervention of the Lt Governor for the basic purposes of protecting the rights of consumers”.
Even naives know that while the Central Government abolished Consumer Protection Court of the erstwhile J&K State established under Jammu and Kashmir Consumer Protection Act, 1987 of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir Assembly after implementing J&K Reorganisation Act 2019, the incumbent J&K Government with the concurrence of the Central Government established Consumer Redressal Commissions in all the districts of Jammu & Kashmir last year with the powers that are vested in a Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 every complaint has to be disposed of as expeditiously as possible and endeavour has to be made to decide the complaint within a period of 3 months from the date of receipt of notice by opposite party where the complaint does not require analysis or testing of commodities and within 5 months if it requires analysis or testing of commodities. With sweeping powers to District Consumer Redressal Commissions established by the Government last year no scope is left for the Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) department to exonerate itself from regulating price of muttons or any other essential commodity be it eggs, poultry chicken or any other essential commodity. It simply shows that capacity of the officers to regulate the prices of essential commodities has virtually exhausted and as such deserves immediate attention and intervention of the Lt Governor for the basic purposes of protecting the rights of consumers.
