Consumer rights are provided by the government of India, in order to give information about the quality, potency, quantity, purity, price, and standards of goods and services to the consumers. Consumer protection law was brought into action in 1986, and a body was formed to protect consumers from any unfair practice of trade. Government bodies and many NGOs actively making Indian consumers aware of these rights. We all have seen “Jago Grahak Jago” ads on Doordarshan and other TV channels but many of us never gave a thought to read about the rights thoroughly.
There are 6 basic consumer rights which you definitely should know about!
1. Right to Safety
This right is meant to protect the consumers from the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property. Sectors like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and food processing are mainly covered under this act. Thousands of people get injured or lose their lives by immoral practices of doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and automobile industry.
To overcome this problem, Government of India have established well-equipped product testing labs. But still, if you found a retailer selling expiry products, you can file a complaint online on district health office. Punjab health systems corporation which comes under the department of health and family welfare, the government of Punjab takes care of such cases. You can also register your complaints on the website of Punjab Health System Corporation.
2. Right to Choose
This right is to assure consumers about wherever possible, to have access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices. Satisfactory quality and service at a fair price are given or not this is also being ensured. Any consumer who buys any product or receives a service has the right to choose whether to buy the product or continue to receive the service or not.
There is a very common problem which generally people ignores, but they can raise their voice against it. Cooking gas supply dealers force us to buy the stove from them on the new connection. In such case, you have all the rights to make your choice. You can complain to the company on their mentioned numbers. You can also complain online if dealer denies/delays accepting the application.
3. Right to be Informed
This right ensures that consumers get all the information about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services. Information is passed on by two ways in India, one is advertising and another is word of mouth. Indian customers mostly don’t bother about having complete information about the product in the context of price, quality, suitability, reliability or safety. Quality and reliability can be known only after the purchase of a product, so in order to cope up with this government of India has laid down some standards for all the products. Every product should have standard labelization of the cost, quantity, ingredients, and instructions for how to use the product safely. If you feel like being the victim of a violation of this act, you can always file a complaint online through the Consumer Court.
4. Right to be Heard
This right is to assure that consumer interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums. This right empowers the consumer to raise their voice against any complaint regarding any product or service. If you have complaints about the product or any service and the shopkeeper is not entertaining you well, you can sew them to the court. You can simply approach consumer redressal forum or file a case in the court of law and recover damages as well as special interest on your damages from the wrongdoer or defaulter.
5. Right to Redressal
This right ensures that the customer can seek redressal against unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers. If you receive a damaged or other than the ordered product, you have all the rights to seek redressal. In such cases, there are few ways to recover the loss. Either the product gets replaced, get a free repair or get a refund of money for it. You can file the complaint on the website of the respective dealer or E-commerce website. You can also file a complaint at District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum.
6. Right to Consumer Education
This right ensures that every Indian citizen has the education regarding consumer protection as well as about their rights. It ensures that the citizen of the country has informational programs and materials which are easily accessible and would enable them to make wise purchasing decisions which are better than before. To aware people, more about this, formal education session is being provided in schools and colleges curriculum. As well as many such campaigns are being run to aware people more, by non-governmental and governmental bodies.
Government empowers us to raise our voices against the odds, let’s get aware about it and use our rights where we are becoming the victim of scams and scandals. On this world consumer rights day, let us all take a pledge to fight against the wrong. Let’s use our rights. Let’s be the change.