The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission will now have two additional posts for the creation of an additional Bench to clear the backlog and for speedier disposal of fresh cases.
The Cabinet on Thursday cleared the proposal of the Department of Consumer Affairs for the creation of the posts — one from a judicial background and the other from a non-judicial background — for the new Bench, which would be set up for a period of five years.
Now the commission has the president and nine members with five benches and a backlog of 8,000 cases that can be cleared, at the earliest, only in another four-and-a-half years going by the present rate of disposal and the existing strength.
It has been receiving about 450 fresh cases each month and the rate of disposal is 600 a month. What with the backlog and fresh arrivals, the commission is unable to cope with the cases within the time specified in the Consumer Protection Act.
Under the Act of 1986, a three-tier redress machinery was set up, with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission as the apex body at the national level, and State and district commissions.
