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Measures for Consumer Protection in India and Consumerism

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RMS Journal of Management & IT
Volume 5, June, 2011
ISSN : 0975-4733

Measures for Consumer Protection in India and Consumerism

Dr. Ravi Kumar Gupta

Associate Prof., Vaish College of Engineering, Rohtak, Haryana.
Ishwar Mittal
Asst. Prof., Vaish Institute of Mgt. & Tech., Rohtak, Haryana.
Dr. Anita Gupta
Asst. Prof., Vaish College of Engineering, Rohtak, Haryana.

Abstract

In modern era the consumers are called the king of the market but they are suffering from lots of undesired
elements such as misleading advertisements, underweight goods, unsatisfied services etc. Consequently to
protect the basic consumer rights Government of India has taken development steps by way of enactment of
various Acts and other measures to define, aware and help consumers. In India, the concept of consumer
protection is not new, it is as old as trade and commerce itself. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (68 of
1986) is a milestone in the history of socio-economic legislation in the country. The main objective of the
new law is to provide for the better protection of the consumers unlike existing laws, which are punitive or
preventive in nature. A Consumer can file complaint on a plain paper either handwritten or typed with no
legal formalities for filing the complaint to three-tier adjudication system popularly known as "Consumer
Courts" under Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Consumer courts may grant many kinds of relief to
consumers. The consumer under CPA requires only small fees to pay in form of demand draft. The rigors
of court procedures have been dispensed with and replaced with simple procedures as compared to the
normal courts. In reality, Consumers have to realize their role and importance. The consumer movements
can be winner movements only with the active involvement of consumer by knowing his rights and
enforcing them. The consumer is exposed to many hazardous- physical, environmental and exploitation due
to unfair trade practices. There is need of strong consumerism in our country on account of the many
reasons e.g. illiteracy, less-education, ignorance and ill-information, poverty, lack of social awareness etc.
For safeguarding the consumers, consumer must understand his rights and responsibilities. It is recognized
theory of the jurisprudence that rights and duties are correlated and there can be no right without duty and
vice versa. The present paper discusses the contribution made by Consumer Protection Act in Consumer
Awareness and Consumerism.

Introduction

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises; he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on
him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He
is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an
opportunity to do so.” ………………….….…....Mahatma Gandhi. In modern era the consumers are called
the king of the market but this concept of consumer field is not beyond a shadow of doubt because in
reality the consumers are still the most deprived part of the market and are in a disadvantageous position
due to non-fortification of their rights. They are suffering from lots of undesired elements such as
misleading advertisements, underweight goods, unsatisfied services etc. Consequently the battle for
consumer protection has to be fought by many consumer association/ agencies. The Government has also
done lots but still to play an important role, by enacting suitable laws and enforcing them effectively. India
has been observing 15th March since 1989 as the „National Consumers Day‟. This day has a historic
importance as it was on this day in 1962, that the Bill for Consumer Rights was moved in the US Congress.
US President John F. Kennedy for the first time went on to set out four basic consumer rights which were

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right to Safety, Information, Choice and Be heard in which in recent years the consumer movement under
the guidance of Consumers International, a world federation of consumer groups added four more rights
and they include the rights to: The satisfaction of basic needs, Redress, Education, A healthy environment.
Consequently today the basic consumer rights can be summarised as follows throughout the globe:

 The right to satisfaction of basic needs: To have access to basic, essential goods and services; adequate
food, clothing, shelter, health care, education, public utilities, water and sanitation;
 The right to safety: To be protected against products, production processes and services, which are
hazardous to health or life;
 The right to be informed: To be given the facts needed to make an informed choice, and to be protected
against dishonest or misleading advertising and labelling;
 The right to choose: To be able to select from a range of products and services, offered at competitive
prices with an assurance of satisfactory quality;
 The right to be heard: To have consumer interests represented in the making and execution of
government policy, and in the development of products and services;
 The right to redress: To receive a fair settlement of just claims, including compensation for
misrepresentation, shoddy goods or unsatisfactory services;
 The right to consumer education: To acquire knowledge and skills needed to make informed, confident
choices about goods and services, while being aware of basic consumer rights and responsibilities and
how to act on them;
 The right to a healthy environment: To live and work in an environment that is non-threatening to the
well being of present and future generations.

Making an allowance for the global consciousness, Government of India has taken development steps by
way of enactment of various Acts and other measures to help consumers. Indian Penal Code, Standards of
Weights and Measures Act, Motor Vehicle Act are some of the Acts. Despite these Acts, consumer related
matters were suffering from policy sickness in the field of consumer protection. A major breakthrough
came during 1986 when Parliament passed Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Consumer

On 15 March 1962 former US President John F. Kennedy said: “Consumers by definition include us all.
They are the largest economic group, affecting and affected by almost every public and private economic
decision. Yet they are the only important group… whose views are often not heard.” According to Oxford
Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary the word consumer means “A purchaser of goods or uses services”. And In
Black‟s Law Dictionary, it is explained to mean, “one who consume, individuals who purchase, use,
maintain, and dispose of products and services.” A member of that broad class of people, who are affected
by pricing politics, financing practices, quality of goods and services, credit reporting, debt collection and
other trade practices for which state and federal consumer protection laws are enacted.

Consumer Awareness

Consumer awareness is about making the consumer aware of his/ her rights. It is a marketing term which
means that consumers are aware of products or services, its characteristics and the other marketing P‟s
(place to buy, price, and promotion). Though the first consumer movement began in England after the
Second World War, a modern declaration about consumer‟s rights was first made in the United States of
America in 1962, where four basic consumer rights (choice, information, safety and to be heard) were
recognized. Ralph Nadar, a consumer activist, is considered as the father of „consumer movement.‟ March
15 is now celebrated as the World Consumer Rights Day. The United Nations in 1985 adopted certain
guidelines to achieve the objectives of maintaining protection for consumers and to establish high level
ethical conduct for those engaged in production and distribution of goods and services. High prices,
duplicate articles, underweight and under measurements, rough behavior, undue conditions, artificial

10
scarcity are some of the ways by which consumers are exploited by manufacturers and traders. Limited
information, limited supplies and low literacy are factors causing exploitation of consumers.

Consumer Protection

In India, the concept of consumer protection is not new, it is as old as trade and commerce itself. It
therefore, comes a no surprise that references to the protection of consumer‟s interest against exploitation
by trade and industry, underweight and measurement, adulteration were made in Kautilya‟s
‘Arthashastra’. The need of punishment was also recognised by him. Bhave (2009) revealed that an
organized and systematic movement to safeguard the interest of consumers is a recent phenomenon. The
consumers have to be aware not only of the commercial aspects of sale and purchase of goods, but also of
the health and security aspects. Food safety has become an important element of consumer awareness these
days. In case of food products, its quality depends not only on its nutritional value, but also on its safety for
human consumption. Consumption of contaminated or adulterated food is a major cause of human illness
and suffering.
There are 500 consumer associations, which are working in the field of consumer protection. They deal
with various aspects of consumer exploitation. Some of the prominent are: Consumer Guidance Society of
India, Mumbai; Citizens Action Group, Mumbai; Common Cause, New Delhi; Voice, New Delhi;
Consumer Utility and Trust Society, Jaipur. This called for strong legal measures to ensure that the
manufacturers and sellers observe uniformity and transparency in prices, stocks and quality of their goods.
Enactment of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was one of the most important steps taken to protect the
interests of consumers. The provision of the Act came into force, with effect from July 1, 1987.

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 at a glance

Introduction
The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (68 of 1986) is a milestone in the history of socio-economic legislation
in the country. The main objective of the new law is to provide for the better protection of the consumers
unlike existing laws, which are punitive or preventive in nature. The Act intends to provide simple, speedy
& inexpensive redresses to the consumer's grievances. It seeks to promote and protects the interest of
consumers against deficiencies and defects in goods or services. It also seeks to secure the rights of a
consumer against unfair or restrictive trade practices, which may be practiced by manufacturers and traders.
There are various levels of adjudicatory authorities that are set up under the Act, which provide a forum for
consumers to seek redressal of their grievances in an effective and simple manner.
In India various Acts intended to protect the consumers against different forms of exploitation were
enacted, such as, the Indian Penal Code, I860; Indian Contract Act, 1872; Drugs Control Act, 1950;
Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951; Indian Standards Institution (certification marks) Act,
1952; Drug and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Acts, 1954; Prevention of Food
Adulteration Act, 1954; Essential commodities Act, 1955; Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958; Hire
Purchase Act, 1972; Cigarettes (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1975; Prevention
of Black marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980: Essential
Commodities (Special Provisions) Act, 1981; Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984; Standard of
Weights and Measures (Enforcement) Act, 1985; and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act,
1985. Some significant consumer protection enactments of pre-independence time are the Sale of Goods
Act, 1930; Agriculture Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act, 1837 and Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
The Consumer Protection Act is an alternative and cheapest remedy to an already available remedy by way
of civil suit. In the complaint/ appeal/ petition submitted under the Act, a consumer is required to pay only
a negligible amount of fees. Proceedings are summary in nature and endeavor is made to grant relief to the
parties in the quickest possible time keeping in mind the spirit of the Act, which provides for disposal of
the cases within possible time schedule prescribed under the Act. The Act aims to protect the economic
interest of a consumer as understood in commercial sense as a purchaser of goods and in the larger sense of
user and service.

11
Who is a Consumer?
The definition of the term „consumer‟ given in clause (d) of section 2(1) of the Act “a consumer is any
person who buys any goods for a consideration and user of such goods where the use is with the approval
of a buyer, any person who hires/ avails of any service for a consideration & any beneficiary of such
services, where such services are availed of with the approval of the person hiring the service”. The
consumer need not have made full payment. Goods mean any movable property and also include share, but
do not include any actionable claims. Services of any description is covered under C.P. Act & includes
banking, financing, insurance, transport, processing, housing, construction, supply of electrical energy,
entertainment, amusement, board and lodging, among others. The definition is wide enough to include not
only the person who buys any goods or services for consideration but also one who uses such goods or
services with the approval of the buyer and in case of any availed services any beneficiary of such services,
when availed with the approval of the hirer is also included. Thus, any user of goods or any beneficiary of
services, other than the actual buyer or hirer is a consumer for the purpose of the Act. And he is competent
to make a complaint before the Consumer Forums under the Act. The important characteristic of „goods‟
and „service‟ under the Act is that such goods are supplied at a price to cover the costs, which consequently
result in profit or income to the seller of goods or provider of service. It includes anyone who consumes
goods or services at the end of the chain of production.

Who can file a complaint?

A complaint on a plain paper either handwritten or typed, can be filed by a consumer, a registered
consumer organization, central or State Government & one or more consumers, where there are numerous
consumers having the same interest.
Consumers can make complaints in the following cases:
(A)Any unfair trade practice or restrictive trade practice adopted by the trader; (B) Defective goods; (C)
Deficiency in service; (D) Excess price charged by the trader; and (E) Unlawful goods sale, which is
hazardous to life and safety when used.

How to file a complaint?

There are no legal formalities for filing the complaint. Suppose, one find himself cheated by trader or a
manufacturer and wish to make a complaint to consumer court, he can write the details on a plain paper.
Attach the supporting documents, that is, guarantee or warrantee card and cash memo, notice to opposite
party, required fees, if his claim falls under the category for which a negligible amount of fees in the form
of demand draft is to be payable, with the complaint (in quadruplicate in case of District Forum and State
Commission) and submit it in the District Forum. He needs not to go to any lawyer or professional for legal
assistance. He himself can plead the case in the consumer court. Generally complaint should be decided
within 90 days from the date of notice issued to the opposite party. Where a sample of any goods is
required to be tested, a complaint is required to be disposed off within 150 days.

Where to file a complaint?

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 has provided the provision for a three-tier adjudication system
popularly known as "Consumer Courts". India is the only country in the world which has established its
three-tier quasi-judicial machinery in the name of exclusive courts at the district, state and national levels
with a view to provide speedy and simple redress to consumer disputes.:

1. District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (District Forum): According to Sec. 10 of Consumer
Protection Act, state governments can set up one or more district forums in each District. There are
three members including the presiding officer. Out of this one member must be a lady. They must have
a qualification of District Judge and must be appointed by state government. It‟s main feature is that it
can hear cases up to Rs.20 Lakhs from round the District. Any appeal may go to state commission
within 30 days.
2. State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (State Commission): According to Sec. 16 of
Consumer Protection Act, One state commission is established by the state government in each state. It
also has three members out of which one is a lady member but they must have qualification of High

12
 Court Judge and should be appointed by state government. It can hear cases from the respective state
involving sum exceed Rs.20 Lakhs and upto Rs.1 Crore. Any appeal may go to national commission
within 30 days.
3. National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (National Commission): According to Sec. 20 of
Consumer Protection Act, National Commission is established by central government. It consists of
five members out of which one must be a lady member. They must have qualification equivalent to
Supreme Court Judge. It has a jurisdiction to hear complaints from entire territory of India except state
of J & K amounting more than Rs.1 Crore. Any appeal may go to Supreme Court within 30 days.

The objective of the consumer courts is to ensure speedy justice to the consumers against various
malpractices and negligence with only a negligible cost. Consumer courts have been set up as special
courts, as it was expensive and time consuming to get justice through civil courts in respect to consumer
problems. This has been internationally praised including the developed countries.

What are the reliefs available to consumers?

Consumer courts may grant one or more of the following relief:
(a) Repair of defective goods;
(b) Replacement of defective goods;
(c) Refund of price paid for the defective goods or service;
(d) Removal of deficiency in service;
(e) Refund of extra money charged;
(f) Withdrawal of goods hazardous to life and safety;
(g) Compensation for the loss or injury suffered by the consumer due to negligence of the opposite party;
(h) Adequate cost of filing and pursuing the complaint;
(i) Grant of punitive damages.

What are the other advantages to the consumers under this law?

The consumer under this (as amended up-to-date) law is not required to deposit ad-valorem court fees; it
requires only small fees in form of Demand Draft. The rigors of court procedures have been dispensed with
and replaced with simple procedures as compared to the normal courts, which helps in quicker redressal of
grievances. The provisions of this Act are compensatory in nature.
So we can see that this Act has come as a panacea for consumers all over the country and has assumed the
shape of practically the most important legislation enacted in the country during the last few years. It has
become the vehicle for enabling people to secure speedy and in-expensive redressal of their grievances.
With the enactment of this law, consumers now feel that they are in a position to declare "sellers be aware"
whereas previously the consumers were at the receiving end and generally told "buyers be aware".

The above provision reveals that a person claiming himself as „consumer‟ should satisfy that:

1) There must be a sale transaction between the seller and the buyer;
2) The sale must be of goods or services;
3) The buying of goods or services must be for consideration;
4) The consideration has been paid or promised or partly paid and partly promised or under any system of
deferred payment;
5) The user of the goods or services may also be a consumer when such use is made with the approval of
the buyer.

The Consumer Protection Act has succeeded in bringing about fair play in the supply of goods and services
to a large extent. The Act applies to almost all goods and services. The Consumer Protection Act, which
has been defined as “the Magna Carta”, of consumers in India but miles to go for achieving the concrete
consumer justice and to make consumer a real king of the market in India.

13
Social errands of consumers for the consumers

Consumers have the social responsibility of exposing the manufacture/ supplier or the service provider for
resorting to illegal trade practices. Unethical noting like “Goods once sold will never be taken back” are in
sharp contrast to the practice in some of the developed countries, where the sellers declare, “In case you are
not fully satisfied with our product, you can bring the same to us within a month for either replacement or
return of your money.” This is the result of consumer consciousness. Consumers have to realize their role
and importance. The consumer movements can be winner movements only with our active involvement by
knowing our rights and enforcing them. It requires a voluntary effort involving the participation of one and
all. If the consumers remain passive, they will continue to be exploited. It is necessary that consumers take
action with solidarity to get a fair deal and timely redressal. An alert consumer is a safe consumer!
The Government acts as the manager for the delivery of services in certain sectors like drinking water
supply, health, education, electricity, municipal services etc. The consumer for these services is community
at large, The efficiency of service delivery and consumer satisfaction is largely not evaluated. Social audits
and user feedbacks are sometimes discreetly carried out for various services, which throw significant light
on improvements required in these services. Engagement of consumers or users for feedback and
management are two basic factors which generally lead to efficiency of service delivery mechanism. For
instance the Government of Gujrat took up the initiative of decentralized community managed in village
water supply management, wherein a local community institution is developed at the village level for
infrastructure development for drinking water services delivery and its operation and maintenance. The
approach was taken up in a mission mode by creating an autonomous institution named Water and
Sanitation Management Organization (WASMO) for taking up social processes at the village level for
institution building and its capacity enhancement. The mission mode has now resulted in the state having
more than 13,000 Village Pani Samities which are acting as Managers of service delivery at the village
level.(Singh, Jaipal, 2009)

Consumerism

Consumerism can be defined as an organised social movement of citizens seeking to augment the right of
buyers in relation to sellers. It is the ideology and a concept which has come to stay in business literature.
The consumer is exposed to many hazardous- physical, environmental and exploitation due to unfair trade
practices. He needs protection, for instance, against products which are unsafe for consumption such as
drugs and adulterated food products and products which may cause serious injury such as defective
electrical appliances. He needs protection against mal-practices and deceit by sellers. He should have
adequate rights and right of recourse to redressal measures against defaulting businessmen. He needs
protection against environmental pollution of air, water and noise and effective measures should be devised
to keep the surroundings neat and clean. Though in the new modern concept of the consumerism as
Bauman(2009) delineates „a shift from a society of producers to a society of consumers.‟ He also analyse
that in today‟s societies, “Freedom in consumerist cultures means freedom to choose and freedom to satisfy
individual desires and define as well as construct consumer identity under the sway of the market.”

Needs and Reasons of Consumerism in India

The need of strong consumerism in our country is on account of the following reasons:

1. In vast country like India, it is very difficult to organise the consumers. The people besides being the
backward have linguistic, cultural and religious differences which makes the problems quiet intricate
or complex;
2. Majority of our population is illiterate, uneducated, ignorant and ill-informed;
3. Poverty, lack of social awareness, accepting life as it is and passive outlook are some of the factors
which make consumer movement difficult to increase;
4. There may not be a positive common objective for the consumers except their desire for safe quality
products, for reasonable price and a feeling of strong negative reactions against the products. In wake

14
 of large scale production and the variety and choice conferred on the consumers, a consumer needs
guidance which can only be appropriately provided by a consumer organisation;
5. The advertisement bombarded on the consumers make them quite confused and hence again a need for
consumer guidance.

Rights and Responsibilities of the Consumers

It is recognized theory of the jurisprudence that rights and duties are correlated and there can be no right
without duty and vice versa. Rights are the product of our demands where duties are the outcome of our
conscience. They can not exist alone because they are interdependent. Right can not be enjoyed until and
unless someone have corresponding duty to perform and on the other hand duty can not performed except
analogous right will be available. Though sometime there can be some absolute duties depending upon
one‟s conscience. The consumer law is also the integral part of jurisprudence hence consumer rights
should also be matched with some parallel duties/ responsibilities for its absolute implementation. (Rashmi,
Neeraja)

Rights of the consumer

Consumer rights are now an integral part of our lives like a consumerist way of life. They have been well
documented and much talked about. We have all made use of them at some point in our daily lives. Market
resources and influences are growing by the day and so is the awareness of one's consumer rights. These
rights are well-defined and there are agencies like the government, consumer courts and voluntary
organisations that work towards safeguarding them. In the 20th century, the presence and influence of the
market grew dramatically in consumers‟ life. We began to purchase things from the market for a price.
Soon, mass production and industrial production came into being, giving the consumer world an entirely
new dimension. Consumers should, not only to get value for their money but also to save him from the
losses and inconvenience occurred due to market manipulations, know his rights as a consumer. They are
as follows:

Rights under Sec. 6 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986:

1. Right to Safety: It is right to safety against such goods and services as are hazardous to health, life and
property of the consumers. For example, spurious and sub-standard drugs; appliances made of low
quality of raw material, such as, electric press, pressure cooker, etc. and low quality food products like
bread, milk, jam, butter etc. Consumers have the right to safety against loss caused by such products.
2. Right to be Informed/ Right to Representation: Consumer has also the right that he should be provided
all those information on the basis of which he decides to buy goods or services. This information
relates to quality, purity, potency, standard, date of manufacture, method of use, etc. of the commodity.
Thus, producer is required to provide all these information in a proper manner, so that consumer is not
cheated.
3. Right to Choose: Consumer has the full right to buy goods or services of his choice from among the
different goods or services available in the market. In other words, no seller can influence his choice in
an unfair manner. If any seller does so, it will be deemed as interference in his right to choice.
4. Right to be Heard: Consumer has the right that his complaint be heard. Under this right the consumer
can file complaint against all those things which are prejudicial to his interest. First there rights
mentioned above (Right to Safety; Right to be Informed; Right to choose) have relevance only if the
consumer has right to file his complaint against them. These days, several large and small
organisations have set up Consumer service cells with a view to providing the right to be heard to the
consumer. The function of the cell is to hear the complaints of the consumers and to take adequate
measures to redress them. Many newspapers like The Economic Times have weekly special columns
to entertain the complaints of the consumers.
5. Right to Seek Redress: This provides compensation to consumer against unfair trade practice of the
seller. For instance, if the quantity and the quality of the product do not confirm to the promise of the

15
 seller, the buyer has the right to claim compensation, such as free repair of the product, taking back of
the products, changing of the product by the seller.
6. Right to Consumer Education: Consumer education refers to educate the consumer constantly with
regards to their rights. In other words, consumers must be aware of the rights they enjoy against the
loss they suffer on account of goods and services purchased by them. Government has taken several
measures to educate the consumers. For instance, Ministry of Civil Supplies publishes a quarterly
magazine under the title “UPBHOKTA JAGRAN”. Doordarshan telecasts programme titled
“SANRAKSHAN UPBHOKTA KA”.

Rights under United Nations

In addition to this six rights enumerated under Consumer Protection Act, 1986, Department of Economic
and Social Affairs, United Nations guidelines for consumer protection,(as expanded in 1999) provided
following rights of Consumers:
1. Right to Basic Needs: The basic needs means those goods and services which are necessary for the
dignified living of people. It includes adequate food, clothing, shelter, energy, sanitation, health, care,
education and transportation. All consumers have the right fulfill these basic needs.
2. Right to Healthy Environment: This right provides consumers the protection against environment
pollution so that the quality of life enhanced. Not only this, it also gives stress that the need to protect
the environment is for future generations as well.
3. Promotion and protection of consumers‟ economic interests: Government policies should seek to
enable consumers to obtain optimum benefit from their economic resources. They should also seek to
achieve the goals of satisfactory production and performance standards, adequate distribution methods,
fair business practices, informative marketing and effective protection against practices which could
adversely affect the economic interests of consumers and the exercise of choice in the market place.
4. Standards for the safety and quality of consumer goods and services: Governments should, as
appropriate, formulate or promote the elaboration and implementation of standards, voluntary and
other, at the national and international levels for the safety and quality of goods and services and give
them appropriate publicity.
5. Distribution facilities for essential consumer goods and services: Governments should, where
appropriate, consider:
a. Adopting or maintaining policies to ensure the efficient distribution of goods and services to
consumers; where appropriate, specific policies should be considered to ensure the distribution of
essential goods and services where this distribution is endangered, as could be the case particularly
in rural areas.
b. Encouraging the establishment of consumer cooperatives and related trading activities, as well as
information about them, especially in rural areas.
6. Measures enabling consumers to obtain redress: Governments should establish or maintain legal and/
or administrative measures to enable consumers or, as appropriate, relevant organizations to obtain
redress through formal or informal procedures that are expeditious, fair, inexpensive and accessible.
Such procedures should take particular account of the needs of low-income consumers.
7. Education and information programmes: Governments should develop or encourage the development
of general consumer education and information programmes, including information on the
environmental impacts of consumer choices and behaviour and the possible implications, including
benefits and costs, of changes in consumption, bearing in mind the cultural traditions of the people
concerned. The aim of such programmes should be to enable people to act as discriminating
consumers, capable of making an informed choice of goods and services, and conscious of their rights
and responsibilities.
8. Promotion of sustainable consumption: Sustainable consumption includes meeting the needs of present
and future generations for goods and services in ways that are economically, socially and
environmentally sustainable.

16
Responsibilities of the consumer

While we all like to know about our rights and make full use of them, consumer responsibility is an area
which is still not demarcated. The consumers have a number of rights regarding the purchase of things, but
at the same time they have some responsibilities too. It means that the consumer should keep a few things
in mind while purchasing goods or availing services. They are as follows:

1. Consumer should exercise his right: Consumers have many rights with regard to the goods and
services. They must be aware of their rights while buying. These rights are: Right to safety, Right to be
informed, Right to representation, Right to seek redressal, Right to consumer education, etc.
2. Cautious consumer/ do not buy blindly: The consumers should make full use of their reason while
buying things. They should not take the seller‟s word as final truth. In other words, while buying
consumer must get information regarding the quality, quantity, price, utility etc. of goods and services.
3. Filing complaint for the redressal of genuine grievances: It is the responsibility of a consumer to
approach the officer concerned as soon as there is some complaint about the goods purchased. A late
complaint may find that the period of guarantee/ warrantee has lapsed. Sometimes, consumers ignore
the deception of businessmen. This tendency encourages corrupt business practices.
4. Consumer must be quality conscious/ Do not compromise on quality: The consumers should never
compromise on the quality of goods. Therefore, they should not buy inferior stuff out of greed for less
prices. If the consumers behave like this, there cannot be any protection for them from any quarter. It is
also the responsibility of the consumers only to buy goods with the ISI, Agmark, Woolmark, FPO,
Hallmark etc. printed on them. All these symbols are indicative of the good quality of the goods.
5. Advertisements often exaggerate/ Beware of false advertisements: The seller informs the consumer
about their things through the medium of advertisements. The sellers exaggerate the quality of their
goods. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the consumers to recognise the truth of advertisement.
6. Do not forget to get Receipt and Guarantee/ Warrantee card: One should always get a receipt or bill for
the things purchased. In case a guarantee/ warrantee card is also offered by seller, it should also be
taken. In case the goods purchased are of inferior quality or some defects appears and bothers the
customers, these documents will be of great help in settling all kinds of dispute with the seller.
7. Do not buy in hurry: The first important responsibility of consumers is that they should not buy in
hurry. It means that the consumers should make an estimate of the things they want to buy their along
with their quantity required by them. They should also take in consideration the place from where to
buy the things.

Conclusion

Consumer protection laws are federal and state statutes governing sales and credit practices involving
consumer goods. Such statutes prohibit and regulate deceptive or unconscionable advertising and sales
practices, product quality, credit financing and reporting, debt collection, leases, and other aspects of
consumer transactions. The goal of consumer protection laws is to place consumers, who are average
citizens engaging in business deals such as buying goods or borrowing money, on an even par with
companies or citizens who regularly engage in business. Several types of agencies and statutes, both state
and federal, now work to protect consumers.
India has the biggest consumer movement today due to the efforts of consumer organisations and the
establishment of consumer courts etc. Still, the present scenario is not very encouraging. Unfortunately the
consumer courts have become replica of legal courts, as the procedure is no longer simple and quick in
practice. The consumer redressal process is relatively cumbersome and time-consuming than intended by
the legislature. The process involves engaging professional personnel, though optional but technicality
encourages aggrieved person to appoint the same, submission of fees, if required, required time for filing
the case and attending the court proceeding and certain other formalities like producing the bill, warranty
cards etc. These procedures need to be made simpler and quicker for making the process more meaningful
and realistic. Every consumer in own interest has to realise the role and importance in the right perspective.
In a competitive economic environment, the consumer has to exercise the choice either in favour of or

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 against the goods and services. The choice is going to be vital and final. One would have to realise the
importance and prepare to exercise their rights with responsibility. The consumers in society get a position
in the market depending upon what they do or do not do.(Chaudhry, Rajender)
It is apparent believe that more guidelines are required because there are always two sides of a coin, each
instance of Consumer affairs could be easily termed as another „Consumer mistreatment‟. By the time
market forces have time to operate, far too many consumers are dead, maimed, or impoverished. Within a
nation-state, national laws may prevent some of this harm, but once national boundaries are crossed, their
effectiveness is limited, and consumers can hope for very limited protection, If online trade proliferates and
consumer fraud becomes a major problem, nation-states and commercial interests that provide online
access are fairly restricted in the action they may take to curb unacceptable and deleterious practices.
Certainly if consumers perceive online commerce as a hazardous place to make purchases, they will not
choose this alternative, and a major opportunity for electronic commerce may be forfeited.
Thus, it can finally be drawn that in addition to the available laws and social phenomena following
measures can be adopted which shall be helpful to the protection of the rights of consumers in future days:
 The consumers should be made alert because it is said the an alert consumer is the asset to the nation;
 Both the buyers and sellers need to be made socially more responsible;
 The available judicial and extra judicial remedies should be communicated to the consumers;
 The awareness regarding the exact time, place, procedure to get his right enforced should immediately
be made by adopting all sorts of available resources;
 Systematic and accountable governmental as well as non-governmental endeavour should be made to
educate and promote the consumers about their rights and responsibilities which will certainly lessen
the number of violations of consumers‟ rights;
 Friedman said, “Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent
problem is to protect the consumer from the government.” Hence to negativate the opinion of
Friedman, the governmental departments should also be brought within the reach of the law by some
legislations so that they should not be allowed to violate the rights of any consumer; and
 More stringent and comprehensive enactments are required to make the consumer laws more effective
and fruitful in India.

References

 Bauman, Zygmunt(2009), “Consumerism and New Poor,” YOJANA, Feb. 2009, pp-48.
 Bhave, Yashwant(2009), “Consumer Protection-Framework of the National Policy,” YOJANA, Feb.
2009, page-05.
 Chaudhry Rajender. Consumer Protection Act-The Road Map Ahead, Deputy Secretary, Department
of Consumer Affairs.
 Friedman Milton, American Economist, founder of Monetarism, Professor at the University of
Chicago, and one of the leading conservative economists in the second half of the 20th-century.
 Rashmi, Neeraja, “Consumer Awareness: Rights & Responsibilities,” and “The Phenomenon of
Consumerism,” Abhishek Vinod Deshmukh.
 Singh, Jaipal(2009), “Consumer Participation for Efficient Service Delivery,” YOJANA, Feb. 2009,
page- 18.
 www.commodityonline.com
 www.consumereducation.in
 www.consumersinternational.org
 www.cuts.org
 www.old.thejakartapost.com

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