The Supreme Court, while considering a suo motu case, directed the Union of India to fill up the vacant position in National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission within the same time frame extended to States/UTs to fill up the vacancies in SCDRC.
The division bench also directed the Union to place before it the legislative impact study, with respect to the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, within four weeks. This could be understood as an assessment which includes informed law-making process under which social, economic, environmental and institutional impacts of legislative proposals have been designed to be made.
During the hearing, the bench mentioned the scenario before the enactment of COPRA and observed that nothing had been done prior to its enactment. The bench assured that the cases which had already been filed would fall under the jurisdiction of existing fora, and the ones filed in future would be adjudicated by consumer fora.
The bench further explained the importance of legislative impact study and remarked that it is considered in case a new avatar of an act is required. It further mentioned the consequences like the impact it would’ve on the litigation; the proposals to be made; the requirement of manpower and the infrastructure.
Keeping the mind the future needs, the court passed these directions.
Leave a Reply