The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution said on Thursday that the nation will have a National Lok Adalat on November 12, 2022, to settle pending cases.
According to the press release, many consumer cases are expected to be resolved due to the advantages of the Lok Adalat system and mutual settlement between parties.
All consumer commissions have been informed to identify cases with a settlement element and compile a list of open cases that can be referred to Lok Adalat as part of the groundwork for this exercise. The department has been keeping a close watch on the list's formation on a regular basis.
The department is contacting customers, businesses, and organisations via SMS and emails in order to maximise outreach and benefit consumers. The department has the contact information of three lakh parties whose cases are still pending before the commissions, including their phone numbers and emails. The Department and the Consumer Commission, which is now handling more than 200 cases, held a video conference.
Technology is being used to generate a separate link that is being shared among all stakeholders involved. This link allows users to easily refer a case to Lok Adalat by entering the case number and commission where it is currently pending. Email and SMS will be used to distribute the link.
Through data analytics, the distribution of pending cases by sector has been determined, with the banking sector having a total of 71,379 pending cases, insurance having 1,68,827 pending cases, e-commerce having 1,247, electricity having 33,919 pending cases, railways having 2,316 pending cases, etc. Efforts are being made to resolve such consumer cases on a priority basis.
The Department of Consumer Affairs is currently working with the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) to refer the inclusion of pending consumer cases to be resolved through the upcoming National Lok Adalat, where both parties come to a settlement with mutual agreement. The Department of Consumer Affairs continuously monitors the resolution of cases in Consumer Commissions. This issue has already been discussed with NALSA.
Approximately 6,07,996 consumer cases are still pending across the nation. There are around 22,250 cases pending at NCDRC. The major states with the biggest number of pending cases include Uttar Pradesh, which has 28,318 pending cases, Maharashtra, 18,093 pending cases, Delhi, 15,450 pending cases, Madhya Pradesh, 10,319 pending cases, and Karnataka, 9,615 pending cases.
