Out of the two District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forums
in the Darjeeling District the Darjeeling branch is in a poor state.
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.