Assessing Complainants’ Perception of Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanism Under Consumer Protection Act

Abstract

The study seeks to assess the perception of complainants towards consumer grievances redressal under Consumer Protection Act in Haryana state. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The unit of sample was individual complainants who filed complaints at District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forums. The sample consisted of 50 respondents. Convenience-cum-purposive sampling technique was adopted for selecting the respondents. Questionnaire was used for collecting the primary data. Various statistical tools and techniques viz. average, ratio, standard deviation, the Pearson Chi-Square test, one sample t-test, Chi-Square Goodness-of-Fit Test and the Karl Pearson Co-efficient of Correlation were used to analyze the data. The study revealed that even consumers had to hire the advocates to file cases at consumer forums, even though they did not desire to engage advocates. It was observed that consumers opposed the engagement of advocates because they demanded heavy fees and unnecessarily delayed the proceedings of consumer forums by taking adjournments. Some consumers defended the appointment of advocates because; they felt that he can defend the case effectively, particularly when the opposite party always did that. The logic seemed to be justified as a normal consumer is not that capable to argue against the seasoned lawyer. This tendency was found more prevalent among rural and poorly educated consumers. Majority of complainants favored the setting of establishing the consumer forums at sub division level. The study has implications for policymakers to enhance the effectiveness of amended Consumer Protection Act to improve the quality of justice to consumers.

Keywords: Complainant, Consumer Forum, Consumer Perception, Consumer Grievances