How Effective is the consumer Protection Act 1986 of India?

Abstract

Gone are the days of ‘Caveat Emptor’ now it is ‘Consumer is king’. There are thousands of products in the market that are adulterated, unsafe for use, injurious to health, unfit for consumption, unfair trade practices are some of the issues that are faced by the consumers and need to be tackled and are to be addressed to protect them against it. In order to protect the interest of consumers in India, the act called ‘Consumer Protection Act’ came into existence in 1986. It aims to provide protection to consumers against the evil practices of the market.

The act is an attempt to help the consumers against the dominant and powerful players of market for which, the act prescribes for three tier quasi-judicial machinery for the purpose of redressal of consumer disputes. The consumer has a right to approach any of the three forums with the complaint depending upon the value of goods or services.

It is expected that through this redressal mechanism consumer gets justice. The act guarantees fast and less expensive justice to the consumers but is somewhere lacking on its part. This research is an attempt to analyze the effective execution of ‘The Consumer Protection Act’ among consumers.