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Government Agencies are becoming
social media savvy!
It is indeed heartening
to note that the Government agencies have become more social media active
and are even picking up the citizens' voice. In a recent incident,
a journalist Mr. Saha, who was travelling by train no. 12312, Netaji Express
(on 13th Jan. 2023), from Ghaziabad to Howrah, could get back a nominal
Rs. 10/-, from the tea vendor, after he tweeted his grievance that the
tea vendor had not returned Rs. 10/- after having taken Rs. 20/- from him,
in spite of reminding him. It is stated that while the incident took
place near Prayagraj Station, he was refunded the money by a Manager of
IRCTC and the dishonest vendor was also relieved of his duties, then and
there. One tweet to @IRCTCofficial could result in such a positive
response, within a short duration is indeed great!
Kudos to the Indian Railway administration and
the Government of India.
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KIND ATTENTION PLEASE!!
For
the benefit of readers, we have provided below the links for our monthly
newsletter Advantage Consumer,
which can be utilised Free of Cost.
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Short weighment is a major issue faced while
doing online shopping
for fruits and vegetables.
- B.Vaidyanathan
These days, especially
in metro cities, households are accustomed to doing online shopping, even
for fruits and vegetables. This has become the norm since the second
quarter of 2021, after the Covid pandemic necessitated minimising exposure
to crowded markets, shopping malls, etc. Online portals like
Big Basket saw a big surge in demand and customers
at that time had to wait for even a couple of days to get a delivery slot.
Many established online shopping portals like Flipkart, Amazon
jumped the bandwagon of online supply of Fruits and Vegetables. Already
Flipkart has reduced its business in this area (christened
as Flipkart Quick), for reasons which are not clear. In Chennai,
one stopped seeing the “Flipkart Quick”, since Oct. 2022. Amazon
is marketing fruits and vegetables under its banner “Fresh”.
More choice means higher competition
and is no doubt welcome for an ordinary consumer and it is a dream come true,
and he is the king in the marketplace. But only an aware and equipped
consumer can dictate his terms, and must be willing to do the homework,
rather than getting carried away by the glitter and attractive enticements
that are on offer.
Pic.-1 (Red Bananas)
Pic.-2 (Karpooravalli Bananas)
The case in point is that even
the established brands noted as above are having issues while doing retail
sales. There are basically 3 issues affecting the consumers at large.
First and foremost is the pricing. Since, pricing is being publicised
and readily available while ordering, the consumer is well informed, and hence
it is up to him to purchase or not, as random cross checking with the wholesale
prices, available in the media will enable him to evaluate whether what is
being charged is fair or not.
Second issue and an important one is the quality of
the stuff supplied and its packing. If one is a regular shopper, he
will be able to assess the same, after a couple of orders. Incidentally,
as this author has experienced, while some items are more or less good with
different sellers, some or not the same.
In this digital era, an historical issue is astonishingly,
is still a major issue, which these renowned companies are still unable
to take care. They are still having difficulties in supplying these
perishable commodities as invoiced/billed. To their credit, they are
promptly refunding the full cost of the billed item. But how many are
having the time or wherewithal to weigh each item that are supplied.
Pic.-1 shows the “Red Bananas” supplied by Big Basket. As per
their variable weight policy, they billed the same as 1.18 kg, whereas the
actual was only 1.15 kg (1.146 kg). They refunded the cost of the entire
quantity of bananas billed. That demonstrates their honesty.
But how many individuals would have made such a claim is a pertinent question
to ponder.
Similar issue was there with the item supplied by Amazon
(Pic.-2 Karpooravalli Bananas). As against 500 gm that was billed,
supplied only 429 gm. On complaining about that variation, they promptly
refunded the cost of the entire quantity of bananas billed. I have
stated the above two as examples, for demonstrating the malady.
It is no surprise then, that I could realise
the entire cost of the digital weighing machine, within 45 days.
It is time to
ponder for all the Companies, as to how to enhance the culture of the people
at large, to make them more trustworthy in whatever they do? Having
potential is one thing, but working as per that potential is another thing.¤
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Consumers
will be better protected - Narendra Modi
Let
the consumer
be doomed
Employees are entitled to benefit of two years weightage
under the EPS
Don't Disturb
- Justice is not Supreme
Supreme Court fails
to uphold the
law
Some suggestions to Chief Justice of India - Is it
that the Laws & Rules need to remain
only on paper?
Unprincipled
Amendments
to Consumer Protection Act
A big question
mark about the relevance of the judiciary
in safeguarding the consumer
(Council's
Curative
Petition dismissed)
In India, consumers have
been at the receiving end
since long. One thought that
things will change for the better after
the Consumer Protection Act was enacted in
1986 and a structured approach was adopted to
promote and safeguard the interests of the consumers.
But after 2004, things have gone from bad
to worse. Commencing from the castration
of the Central Consumer Protection Council, the relevance
of the consumer Act itself has been brought
into question. If the government is found
wanting and none too serious to strengthen this
voluntary initiative of the individuals to do their bit
for a healthy society, which in any case is bound to
benefit the industry, its competitiveness and the country
as a whole, myopic approach only appear to rule the roost,
as on date.
Important amendments which were
brought in 2003 to the Consumer Protection
Act, with a clear objective of penalising Unfair
Trade Practices and to compensate
the consumer/litigant adequately have
been frustrated by the indifferent approach
of the National Commission as well as the Supreme
Court. That is why, giving the benefit of
doubt to the bench which did not do justice to the
issues placed before it by Consumer Protection Council,
Rourkela, and to take the issues pursued by it to the
logical end, Curative Petition was filed. The
GROUNDS
categorically
illustrate the denial of Natural
Justice to the Petitioner Council
and the failure of the Court in addressing
the issues raised in the Appeal.
Rupa Ashok Hurra
case specifically has laid Violation of
Principles of Natural justice as the valid ground
for considering a Curative Petition. Question
is whether a narrow view of non-issue of notice
alone should be taken as the requisite ground
for allowing the Appeal or blatant denial to consider
the Grounds of Appeal by the concerned bench should
be treated alike, in the larger interests of justice?
If this anomaly is not addressed,
Curative Petitions will only be found useful
when the media start highlighting an issue, like
the LGBT case leading to the strength of the population
deciding the outcome of the Curative Petition.
This does not augur well for a civilized democratic
country.
Learned ex-Justice of Gujarat &
Rajasthan High Courts, Sri
M.R.Calla, and designated Sr. Advocate
of the Supreme Court had unequivocally
advocated for allowing the Curative Petition
of the Council, pointing
out
the gross miscarriage of justice and denial
of natural justice.
But that has not appealed to the Supreme
Court bench headed by the CJI, who have
dismissed
the
Curative Petition, as per the Order
made available on the internet
today.
Something needs to be done to address
and to save the people from this
hyper-technical approach of the Supreme Court
and to promote the consumer movement,
which is after all in the best interests of
the nation. Will Shri Narendra Modi
and his government do something to stem this rot?
**************
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How can the
Supreme Court pass an irrelevant order?
'Consumer justice
is your right'
Fleece the
consumer and go scot-free
Finish the consumer
movement?
www.moneylife.in/finish-the-consumer-movement
A consumer organisation
with
a difference. Instead
of rendering advisory services
alone, the Council since its inception,
in 1985, has been taking up issues affecting
them through the consumer courts and other means
and feels proud to have provided relief to crores
of people. These include:
- Remedial action against
short filling of LPG in cooking
gas refills; of the 184 LPG Bottling
Plants, of the three Oil Marketing Companies
(IOC, BP & HP), only 4 remain to be automated.
Even these will be modernised within the
next financial year 2013-14). The
quantified loss of nearly Rs. 750 crores per year to
the consumers across the country has been taken
care by this upgradation. Thanks to the
Council's Original Petition initiatied in 2001,
before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission (NCDRC).
- Won an important case
against the Rourkela Development
Authority and secured financial relief for a group
of individuals, against violation of Plan
& Specifications in the construction
of the houses and delay in handing over the possession.
- Obtained a separate
District Forum for Rourkela, though
it is not the district headquarters,
which otherwise necessitated the
entire Rourkela population to approach the Forum,
situated at Sundergarh, a place 100 km away;
- Re-routing of Dhanbad-Alleppey
Express train through
Chennai Central;
- Campaigned against
non transferring of excise duty
concessions (to the consumers) extended by the
union government to the industry;
- Better upkeep of the
railway coaches of Utkal Kalinga
Express and other trains;
- Reintroduction AC
Chair Car in Ispat Express;
- Refunding of booking
advance by M/s APSL and M/s LML;
and many more.
It will not be an exaggeration
to add that its activities have added
to the confidence of the Rourkela population,
against unethical business practices.
The fifth Voluntary Consumer
Organisation in the country to have set
up a Consumer Information Centre,
with the support of Ministry
of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution,
Govt. of India. Has earned a niche for creating
consumer awareness
and handling of individual
as well as group/class grievances.
It is bringing out an English monthly
Advantage Consumer,
to educate the consumers. It is represented
in various Advisory bodies.
An Aware Consumer is
an Asset to the Nation
Through this site effort will
be made to disseminate all relevant
information and answers to many of the
queries which are frequently asked. Knowledge
is power and ignorance is the root cause
of all exploitation. As a consumer, we
hope you will find the site quite useful. Since
ours is a voluntary organisation with meagre resources
we have designed the site on our own and are
sure there will be lot of scope to improve. As such we
invite the public and the visitors to this site to communicate
their valuable feedback, so that we may improve
the contents of this site.
Lots & Lots of information in store
for you to tap, in the Information
Section. Why wait to click on
Information.
If you are keen to support the Council, you may send in
your donations through crossed Cheques/Demand
Drafts, drawn in favour of "Consumer
Protection Council, Rourkela". All donations
to the Council are exempted under sec. 80G
of the Income Tax Act. The Council is also registered
under the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation
Act).
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