GUWAHATI: Now city residents are not thinking twice before approaching the consumer court if they face any trouble while shopping online. This is suggested by the number of cases being filed with the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (DCDRC) in Guwahati which has been witnessing an increasing number of cases related to problems arising out of online shopping from customers.
These cases are registered under negligence of services by the e-commerce websites.
Authorities said that they have seen a rise in such cases over the past few months as they receive around five cases every month. The complaints against online retail portals range from late delivery of products, selling sub-standard or defective goods, to refusal to refund the amount incurred in the purchase of goods and delivering the wrong products.
“These types of cases against e-commerce websites are relatively new as they have increased in the past few years and they were not been recorded for the last five years. In some cases, customers have also received the due compensation after the judgement of the consumer court,” informed the president of the DCDRC of Kamrup (Metro), Mohammad Sahadat Hussain.
In a recent incident, a case was registered last month at the consumer court against the e-commerce website, Snapdeal, for delivering damaged electronic goods. Authorities informed that the case is still ongoing.
Earlier, cases related to Flipkart and other e-commerce websites have also been registered with the district consumer forum.
In another case a few months ago, a resident of Guwahati had ordered a mobile phone through one of the leading online shopping websites. However, he received a bar of soap in his package. He then sent a legal notice to the online retail company asking them to send the correct product within seven days or face legal action.
Officials said that in many cases, the sellers enter into a compromise with the buyers after a case is filed with the DCDRC.
“The educated consumers, especially in the urban areas, are becoming more aware of their rights and are not hesitant to exercise their powers within law. We have seen an increased number of cases being registered with the consumer court over the past few years,” informed Archana Deka Lahkar, member of the DCDRC.
As per the official record, a total of 94 cases have been filed at the Kamrup (M) consumer forum in 2017 till November. Before this, 92 and 125 cases were registered with the district consumer forum in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Other categories of disputes registered with the consumer court include complaints against automobile companies and e-commerce platforms for sub-standard or defective goods, airlines and courier companies for deficiency in services, medical negligence and against mobile service providers for lack or deficiency of services.
Lack of infrastructure, staff shortage: challenges faced by consumer forums
However, the district consumer disputes redressal forums face their own set of challenges. For instance, shortage of staff and lack of proper infrastructure have plagued the DCDRFs across the state.
The DCDRF of Kamrup (Metro) has been operating from a rented house since 1994 and currently, the posts of head assistant and bench assistant are lying vacant, informed officials.
Further, the post of the second member of the forum has also only recently been filled. Prior to this, the DCDRF functioned with only the president and a member despite the huge backlog of cases.
The district consumer forum deals with dispute cases whose value is up to Rs 20 lakhs - which is the maximum compensation that can be claimed in the district-level consumer court. Cases with a value of Rs 20 lakhs – Rs 1 crore are taken up by the state consumer disputes redressal commission. Above them is the national consumer disputes redressal commission which hears disputes where the total claim and compensation amount exceeds Rs 1 crore.
Officials at the state consumer disputes redressal commission told G Plus that out of the total of 23 district forums in the state, out of which only eight are independent district forums headed by a president and 15 district consumer forums are attached to the district and sessions judges.
In these DCDRFs the district and sessions judges often remain overburdened with work which results in poor disposal rate of cases.
In contrast, the SCDRC possesses good infrastructure and adequate manpower. This is reflected in the disposal rate of 87% which has increased over the years, informed officials. In total, 81 cases were filed with the SCDRC in 2015 and 109 in 2016, while 2017 saw a jump to 121 cases.