Resource constraints: Consumer rights will have to wait

Plan for setting up consumer courts in all Punjab districts on hold for lack of funds.

LAHORE:

The proposal sent by the Punjab Consumer Protection Counsel (PCPC) to the Industries Department for establishing consumer courts in every district was rejected on Saturday owing to lack of funds.

A PCPC official said that a proposal was sent to the Industries Department for establishing consumer courts in every district five months ago. “These courts were to share the burden of the exciting courts and help expedite the process,” he said. The official said that there were eleven district courts working in Faisalabad, Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Gujrat, Sialkot and Lahore and that each court dealt with an average of four districts. “The Lahore consumer court deals with consumer complaints from Kasur, Nankana and Sheikhupura,” he said.

Several judicial officers have said recently that the District Consumer Protection Counsel (DCPC) should cease its awareness campaigns because these had led to a large number of cases being filed in the consumer courts. “This is more than we can handle. Naturally, there should be awareness but it doesn’t help anyone if there is a backlog of cases and no way to tackle them,” he said. The official said that some judicial officers had also told the DCPC that they had to decide every case within the period of six months under the Section 30 (5) of Punjab Consumer Protection Act, 2005. “This has not been happening because of an excessive case load. There are hundreds of pending cases now,” he said, quoting judicial officers.

The PCPC has held several meetings with Industries secretary Dr Shujaat Ali and briefed him in this regard.  When contacted, DCPC director Saeed Akhtar Ansari said that the PCPC had tabled a proposal before the Industries Department to establish consumer courts in every district but that it couldn’t afford to do so. “There are not enough funds but the PCPC is working to build a court complex in Gujranwala room. We hope that this will temporarily bridge the gap,” he said.

Dr Shujaat Ali said that the Industries Department was currently working on a proposal. “This is a huge project and we won’t manage anything overnight. There is a lack of resources but we are trying to see if we can save in other areas to meet this demand,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2011.