The society must generate greater awareness and devise ways to settle consumer issues out of court. Judicial courts or consumer disputes redressal fora should be considered as a last resort. This is the general line of thought which prevailed at the conference on “Consumer Is Always Right?†organised by Rotary Club Chandigarh Midtown in association with Rotary Club Chandigarh Central in the auditorium of Goswami Ganesh Dutta SD College in Sector 32 on Saturday.
Justice RK Agrawal (retd), President, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the chief guest on the occasion, while speaking on the topic “Recent Advances in Consumer Law – Vision for Future” hailed the ‘The Consumer Protection Act 2019’ as a landmark legislation which is expected to bring further relief to consumers in the rapidly changing world environment. He hoped that it will come into effect soon, after the government notifies it.
Photos By : Life In Chandigarh
Earlier giving an overview of the topic of the conference, Rtn. Salil Bali, President Rotary Club Chandigarh Midtown, shared with the audience that apart from its core areas of service to society his club was laying special focus on consumer protection, and laws associated with it. He hoped that Rotarians will play an important role in consolidating the consumer protection movement in the country.
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Conference chairman and former member of the National Commission Rtn. Dr. BC Gupta, in his presentation “My Tryst With The Consumer Law”, presented half a dozen interesting examples from his five-and-a-half years experience in the commission to give the consumer movement food for thought. Situations are not always cut and dried and consumer disputes redressal agencies have to play a balancing act in such matters, he emphasised.
He also called upon the society, and organisations like Rotary clubs, to play a proactive role in generating greater consumer awareness and take steps for redressal of consumer issues out of court.
Rtn. Balram Gupta, Director Academics, Chandigarh Judicial Academy, in his topic “Rotary Connects The Consumer” said he was looking forward to the implementation of the new clause of alternative mechanism of mediation in the 2019 Consumer Act, which he thought was a laudable initiative.
Giving an international perspective to consumer law, young lawyer Sukhandeep Singh quoted profusely from the UK law to highlight the need for making the framework for consumer disputes redressal more accessible and faster.
NC Rana, President, Consumer Association Panchkula, speaking on the topic “Fate of Consumer”, felt that the structure of the consumer redressal mechanism in the country made it extremely inaccessible for a vast majority of people residing in the rural areas, where lack of awareness was also a big stumbling block.
The presidents of the state commissions of Haryana, Punjab and UT Chandigarh, Justices (retd) TPS Mann, PS Dhaliwal and RS Attri were felicitated on the occasion.
Among others present were Rtn. Raman Malik, President, Rotary Club Chandigarh Central, and past President Chandigarh Midtown Rtn. RTPS Tulsi.
Rtn. Jitendra Dhingra, District Governor, Rotary District 3080, who was to be Guest of Honour, could not make it because of unforeseen personal compulsions.
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