Justice jolt for hill buyers

Though the other forum is situated in Siliguri is doing well, the Darjeeling forum is not getting the required response from the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong. The purpose of setting up two forums in Darjeeling district was to solve the linguistic problems, but the poor response has made the authority rethink the idea.The Director of Consumer Affairs warned the officers about lack of activity in the court. The Director has warmed that with the present state of affairs the court might be converted into a weekly affair in the hills.

The Secretary of a local NGO, FORCE (Friends for Redressal and Consumer Education) Mr. Malla said that the hesitancy of the consumers to report consumer disputed is the main reason for the current state of affairs. The number of cases launched is only 20 during the current year whereas this was 70 in the last year.

The decision about where the dispute redressal will take place depends on amount of money involved. Cases where the dispute amount is up to 20 lakhs is under the jurisdiction of the District Forum and cases ranging up to 1 crore will be redressed at the State Consumer Redressal Commission. The case will go under the jurisdiction of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in New Delhi if it crosses the bar of Rs. 1 crore.

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