Consumer court turns heat on tele-marketers

NEW DELHI: The State Consumer Commission has turned the heat on pesky tele-marketers. In an action that could finally curb the enthusiasm of companies to make unsolicited tele-marketing calls and send SMSes, the consumer court has imposed a steep fine of Rs 50 lakh to be paid jointly by Airtel and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
The court has also imposed a joint penalty of Rs 25 lakh on ICICI Bank and American Express Bank for making unsolicited calls on the complaint of a Saket resident.The Commission���s president, Justice J D Kapoor, also pulled up the telecom regulator, Trai, for not starting a national "Do Not Call" registry despite being aware of consumers��� problems in view of a PIL pending in the Supreme Court since 2003.
"It appears that the cellular service providers, financial institutions, banks and other companies who market their products through tele-marketing are in league with Trai and theirs is an unholy trinity," he said.
COAI director-general T V Ramachandran said although he was aware of the case, he was not aware of the order. He said there was a high court stay on the consumer court���s interim order. Airtel, too, drew attention to the stay and said the new order was unlikely to be applicable to them.