Cases pile up in quorum-less consumer courts

MARGAO: Consumers with grievances arefacing a tough time, with the two district redressal forums lacking thenecessary quorum to hear and dispose of cases. In South Goa, theforum's president and a member are pending appointment for the last sixmonths.In the North, a member in the three-member quorum forum isawaiting appointment since June. And topping these, the president ofthe state commission recently resigned. Sources say Justice D GDeshpande's resignation will further derail the speedy justice mechanism, as thecommission's president is also administration head of both forums and ischairman of the selection committee. Till the commission gets apresident the remainder vacancies cannot be filled, sources explained.The vacancies have led to nearly 3,000 cases pending before the twoforums. In South Goa, cases filed by 940 consumers are pending.Confirming the vacancies, senior commission member, JagdishPrabhudessai, said, "The resignation of the president affects the morale of bothforums as he has the power to intercede and remove certain practical andadministrative difficulties faced by the forums or by thecommission."Sources said the government advertised for the vacantposts-South Goa forum president and member, and North Goa forum member -in Marchthis year, but nothing came of it. "The only procedure that can be adhered tonow is that the state government should refer the issue to the chief justice ofthe Bombay high court, with a request to depute any sitting judge of the highcourt to be chairman of the selection committee," explained a source.Government sources said that as a damage control exercise, the statecommission will hold a special meeting of officials and members of both forumsthis week. The meeting is expected to review the existing situationand overall working of the two forums. The Supreme Court and the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, incidentally, had earlier directed the state government to take necessary steps to anticipate vacancies in the forums at least six months before they arise. The Consumer Protection Act 1986 too mandates that cases (not wanting laboratory tests) should be disposed of within 90 days of them being filed before the forums.As per statistics, some 175 individual appeals/revisions andmiscellaneous applications are pending before the state commission.About 35 original complaints, wherein the complainants seekcompensation/damages and other relief between 20 lakh to 1 crore are alsopending.