The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday took up the Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 for discussion. The Bill aims to protect consumers’ interest through a redressal mechanism that would provide timely and effective administration and settlement of their disputes.
It was passed by the Lok Sabha on July 30.
Introducing the Bill, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Ram Vilas Paswan said through the new legislation, the examination of manufactured products before, during and after buying would be possible. ‘If found faulty, instead of earlier individual examination, the entire batch of a particular product would be taken back from the market’, Mr Paswan said.
Speaking further, Mr Paswan said the overall purpose of the legislation is to ease the process of addressing grievances of consumers. The earlier Bill was unable to resolve the issues of pending cases, therefore, in view of a large number of cases in different Consumers Courts, the new Bill provides better mechanism to dispose the complaints faster”, added.
It has also made provision for constituting the Consumer Protection Authority which will also mediate, keep eye on false advertisements, he added. He also assured the Members that he would try incorporate maximum number of suggestions of the Members possible from legal point of view.
