New Delhi, Dec. 4 -- The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs on Thursday reviewed the Union Government's action on its earlier recommendations on the Department's 2025-26 budgets and flagged serious gaps in implementation and financial planning, despite the government formally accepting all 19 suggestions.
The Committee drew particular attention to reduced allocations for the Price Stabilisation Fund, Integrated Consumer Grievance Redressal System, CONFONET, and Legal Metrology. While the department justified the reductions by citing dynamic funding needs and pointed out that PSF utilisation stood at a high 99.6 per cent in 2024-25, the Committee termed the response evasive and devoid of a credible long-term financial strategy. It pointed out that ad hoc funding methods may render the consumer protection mechanisms ineffective.
The other major issue that cropped up was that of large-scale vacancies in consumer commissions across the country. The Committee figured that as many as nearly 50 per cent of President posts and more than 30 per cent of Member posts remain vacant in State and District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commissions. It strongly criticised the Union Government for shifting the responsibility entirely to the States without outlining any concrete corrective roadmap. The Committee demanded the framing of a time-bound recruitment calendar along with a quarterly monitoring mechanism to ensure that the functioning of consumer courts is not crippled due to manpower shortages.
Digital Consumer Grievance Redressal: The Committee welcomed the launch of the e-Jagriti platform, integrating various portals for online filing and tracking of consumer cases. However, it showed concern about the lack of measurable performance indicators with regard to time taken for disposal, reduction in pendency, and user satisfaction. It urged for regular data-based performance reporting to determine whether digital integration is indeed facilitating improved access to justice for consumers.
The National Consumer Helpline has seen a manifold increase in the number of monthly complaints, indicating increasing public dependence on the grievance redressal system. The helpline has widened its reach by providing support in 17 Indian languages and facilitating complaints on WhatsApp. The Committee was told that AI-based speech recognition, translation systems, and chatbot services are at various stages of implementation. While applauding these initiatives, the Committee underscored the necessity of sound monitoring to ensure that technology-driven solutions translate into faster and more efficient grievance resolution.
The Committee remarked that the releases from the Price Stabilisation Fund are now being done through a Just-in-Time digital mode. It was also informed that studies have been initiated to minimise storage losses of essential commodities such as pulses and onions. However, the Committee strongly underlined the urgent need for strengthening buffer storage infrastructure in the country to control price volatility and protect consumers from sudden spikes.
The Committee went through the status of the Consumer Welfare Fund and noted that so far, the same has been established in 26 States and Union Territories, while States like Chhattisgarh and Punjab have reached an advanced stage of implementation. It pressed the Government to ensure nationwide coverage by the end of the 2025-26 financial year and called for stricter scrutiny of Utilisation Certificates to prevent fund misuse or underutilisation.
The Committee, while deliberating on the issues regarding Legal Metrology and adoption of Indian Standard Time, recommended compulsory implementation of IST throughout the country, especially in telecom and internet services, in view of increasing threats of cybercrime due to problems related to time synchronisation. It noted that infrastructure upgradation is in progress at the Regional Reference Standard Laboratories, but desired that it be expedited to strengthen enforcement.
The functioning and expansion of the National Test House also formed part of the review. The budget estimate for NTH has been increased to Rs 65.8 crore for 2025-26. Electric vehicle batteries, solar photovoltaic modules and power transmission equipment have been identified as some of the priority testing projects. The Committee observed that the NTH has started expanding its testing capabilities relating to emerging sectors such as drones, EVs, solar energy and aerospace components, which would become crucial for the quality assurance ecosystem in the country.
Other areas where work has been undertaken include infrastructure for gold hallmarking. The Committee was told that more than 12 crore jewellery articles were hallmarked during 2024-25, besides an increase in the number of hallmarking centres to 1,621. However, it noted that access in rural regions remains insufficient. The Bureau of Indian Standards will float a fresh Expression of Interest in 2025-26 to establish hallmarking centres in districts where infrastructure is deficient.
Concluding, the Committee noted that the government has formally accepted all 19 recommendations but expressed continuing concern at weak implementation frameworks, lack of clear timelines and absence of performance benchmarks on several important areas. The committee warned that, unless vigorously monitored, transparent and time-bound implementation is carried out, some of the major goals of consumer protection may continue to be elusive in respect of the composition of consumer commissions, online grievance redressal and realistic budgeting.
Once again, a robust oversight and accountability mechanism is called for to ensure that adequate consumer protection is afforded throughout the country.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.