E-Paper
Pending cases count mounts to 1,962 as Ludhiana consumer redressal forum remains headless
President of the forum had retired in December last year while the two other members of the forum have been relieved of their additional charge in Ludhiana consumer disputes redressal forum.
The Ludhiana consumer disputes redressal forum, which has been awaiting the appointment of a new president for the last two months, is now facing a new challenge.
The two other members of the bench, Jyotsna Thatai and Vinod Gulati, who were given the additional charge of Ludhiana, have been relieved of their charges, thereby bringing a complete
halt to the functioning of the forum.
As per the rules of the forum, all cases that can be challenged in the upper court can be decided only with a minimum quorum of a president and a member.
However, the forum members can carry out day-to-day proceedings such as presiding over case hearings, even in the absence of the president. But now, with all posts falling vacant, not even a single case is getting a hearing, adding to the number of pending cases.
As per official figures, currently, there are as many as 1,962 cases pending in the district consumer forum.
This year so far, a total of 74 cases were filed in the forum.
With no judgments being delivered in the absence of the president, the only cases that have reached a conclusion in the last three months are the ones that were either withdrawn by the complainants or dismissed by the forum at the admission stage.
While around seven cases were withdrawn by the applicants in January, February witnessed zero disposal of cases.
The forum where around 60 cases are taken up everyday for hearing, is now turning back applicants as well as advocates in the absence of the president and members.
Narrating his client’s ordeal, advocate Narinder Singh said, “My client, who is facing an immigration case, has to come from Jagraon for hearing. The case has been pending since 2018. On Monday, he took leave from work to attend the hearing but as there were no members, we had to return without a hearing.”
Another advocate, Subhash Mahant, said that all through the day, both advocates and clients visit the forum to check when the quorum will sit for hearing. “The lack of quorum is not only affecting the public but also advocates. How should we console our clients when there is no intimation on when the district forum is getting its president and members,” he says.
Another advocate Manjit Singh Sethi said that due to the absence of the president and members, the hearing in some cases will now shift to May and June.
“The government should set up an additional bench in Ludhiana as cases here are more in comparison to the other districts. In fact, in 2009, the government had set up an additional bench here for few a months to clear the pendency,” said Sethi.
During a state-level programme on December 24, Punjab food, civil supplies, and consumer affairs minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu had announced that 10 presidents would be appointed for the district consumer forums in the state within a fortnight.
The recommendation was sent to the government by the state consumer disputes redressal commission in December but two months on, there is no progress.
When contacted, state consumer disputes redressal commission president Justice Paramjeet Singh Dhaliwal said, “We had to relieve the two members of their additional charges as the home stations were facing a crunch. Currently, there are only five presidents for 20 district forums in Punjab. Out of these, two are set to retire in May. The assembly has sought the status of the state’s consumer forums
but we have no information on when new appointments will be made.
