'Villagers should be made aware of consumer rights'

MANGALORE: Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission chairman Justice K Ramanna on Saturday said awareness regarding consumer rights should be created in rural areas as 70% of the villagers are unaware of their rights under the Consumer Protection Act.
Speaking at the consumers awareness programmes, organized under State Consumer Welfare Fund, Ramanna said there were 30 district consumers foras and the Ramnagaram and Chikballapur consumer forums could not come up as they did not have enough cases.
Regarding Mangalore, Ramanna said of the 9,500 cases, 9,351 were disposed off. He urged consumers to demand receipts for each purchase and it would make their case stronger in case the product they purchased was defective or service was defecient.
District in-charge minister Krishna Palemar also echoed the views of Ramanna saying many consumers were unaware of their rights. He noted that in DK district many do not approach courts citing delay in disposal of cases, which would result in waste of time and money for a petty amount.
He also urged to evolve a mechanism to punish those habitual complainers so that only genuine complaints could be entertained. He also cited Right to Information Act being misused and said the fee should be higher to discourage frivolous RTI application, which made officials spend most of their time in replying to them.
District sessions judge H R Deshpande also emphasized the need for creating awareness among consumers.