It has been more than three months since a government order was passed commissioning the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC), but the wheels are still not in motion, as a chairman is yet to be appointed for the SCDRC.
A senior official from the yet-to-be-commissioned Telangana SCDRC said that he and other members are waiting for a chairman to be appointed, as cases which are to be heard by the State body are piling up each day, with no one to conduct hearings and dispose them of.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was also filed in the High Court, asking the government to form a commission soon, he stated.
“On February, a hearing was held about the PIL in the High Court, wherein the Bench stated that names recommending persons for the post of the chairman had been sent to the State government.
The Attorney General (AG) replied that someone would be appointed within a week, but so far nothing has happened,” informed the official from SCDRC, not willing to be identified.
However, cases are being heard regularly at the district level.
Those which are monetarily worth between Rs. 20 lakh and Rs.1 crore will be dealt by the SCDRC, and cases below that amount will be heard at the district forums. Between October 15 and January 30, after the government order had been passed commissioning the SCDRC, 70 original petitions were filed, said the official and added that they have been numbered and kept aside.
“Once the new chairman and two members of the commission take charge, they will have to look at all the cases filed after the Government Order was issued, apart from the existing backlog of cases,” pointed out the senior official.
Cases to be heard by State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission piling up with no statutory chief to dispose them of
