HC extends tenure of consumer forum chairpersons, members

Bhopal: In a significant interim order, a division bench of MP high court said that chairpersons and members of State Consumer Commission and District Consumer Forums will continue to work beyond the expiry of their term till further orders of the court. Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) contending that a petition challenging the procedure of appointment of members and chairpersons of the District Consumer Forum and State Consumer Commission is under consideration of the Supreme Court and if the existing chairpersons and members of the state commission and district forums retire, the consumer forms and the consumer commission in the state would become dysfunctional, the bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain said while passing the interim order. The petitioner Rahul Dubey said that the term of chairperson of the State Consumer Commission and District Consumer Forums is coming to an end or would soon be expiring while a petition is pending in the apex court challenging the procedure of their appointment. In the absence of the quorum, hearing in the cases before the consumer commission and forums will be affected and the litigants would face problems. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Siddartha Sharma told the court that in the states of Kerala, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the term of chairpersons and members of the commission and forum have already been extended for now. There are thousands of cases pending in the district forums and the state govt won't be able to make appointments on the post of chairpersons and members of the commission and forums even if it wished to, till there is an order of the SC in the petition pending before it. In the interest of the litigants, the term should be extended for now, Sharma had argued in the matter.
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