India, Sept. 19 -- The Bombay High Court has pulled up Mumbai Suburban district collector for failing to act for nearly 13 years on a recovery certificate issued by the Mumbai Suburban District Consumer Forum against a local builder.

A division bench of justices M S Sonak and Advait M Sethna said it was "quite shocked" to find that the certificate, issued in 2012, had not been executed. The judges stressed that recovery certificates - which empower authorities to collect penalties or dues ordered by consumer courts - must be enforced quickly. "The entire purpose of the consumer movement will collapse if the collector sits tight on such executions," the bench observed.

The case was filed by 65-year-old Heena Kashmiri, a Jogeshwari West r...