Parliament Question: Lack of Functional State and District Consumer Forums in Ladakh

Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3170 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.03.2026 LACK OF FUNCTIONAL STATE AND DISTRICT CONSUMER FORUMS IN LADAKH 3170. SHRI MOHMAD HANEEFA: Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state: (a) whether the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions have been established and are functional in the Union Territory of Ladakh as mandated under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019; (b) if not, the reasons for the non-establishment or non-functioning of these forums; (c) whether the Government has formulated a timeline for setting up these commissions in Ladakh and making them fully operational; (d) if so, the details thereof and steps taken by the Government to expedite their establishment including recruitment and infrastructure development; and (e) the details of measures being taken by the Government to ensure effective consumer grievance redressal until these forums are functional? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI B.L. VERMA) (a) to (e): Under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, it is the responsibility of the State Governments to fill up the vacancies of President and Members in the State Commissions and District Commissions. Further, as per Rule 6(4) of the Consumer Protection (Qualification for appointment, method of recruitment, procedure of appointment, term of office, resignation and removal of the President and members of the State Commission and District Commission) Rules, 2020, the process of appointments shall be initiated by the State Government atleast 6 months before the vacancy arises. As per Section 32 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, if, at any time, there is a vacancy in the office of the President or Member of the District Commission, the State Government may, by notification, direct - a) any other District Commission specified in that notification to exercise the jurisdiction in respect of that district also; or b) the President or a member of any other District Commission specified in that notification to exercise the powers and discharge the functions of the President or member of that District Commission also. State and District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission have been established in the Union Territory of Ladakh. Further, one member is appointed in the Leh District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs has emerged as a single point of access to consumers across the country for their grievance redressal at a pre- litigation stage. Consumers can register their grievances from all over the country in 17 languages including Hindi, English, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Nepali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Maithili, Santhali, Bengali, Odia, Assamese and Manipuri through a toll-free number 1915. These grievances can be registered on Integrated Grievance Redressal Mechanism (INGRAM), an omni-channel IT enabled central portal, through various channels- WhatsApp (8800001915), SMS (8800001915), email (nch-ca@gov.in), the NCH app, the web portal (consumerhelpline.gov.in) and the Umang app, as per their convenience. 1,398 companies, who have voluntarily partnered with NCH as part of the ‘Convergence’ programme directly respond to these grievances according to their redressal process and revert by providing a feedback to the complainant on the portal. The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has successfully facilitated refund of ₹52 crore to consumers between 25th April 2025 and 31st January 2026. This significant redressal was achieved across 31 sectors, effectively addressing 79,521 consumer grievances related to refund claims. The Department has launched “e-Jagriti” portal on 1st January, 2025, which aims to enhance consumer grievance redressal through a micro-service architecture, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning integration and modern features like faceless onboarding and role-based dashboards. It unifies existing applications (OCMS, e-Daakhil, NCDRC CMS, CONFONET) into a single, scalable platform, allowing users to file complaints seamlessly from anywhere with multilingual support. The portal is designed to provide a convenient, transparent and efficient means for consumers to seek redressal by enabling online complaint filing, digital submission of documents, online payment of fees and also supports virtual courtrooms, enabling the hearing of cases remotely and ensuring faster disposal while reducing dependency on physical infrastructure. These features address bottlenecks like geographical barriers, scheduling conflicts and manual interventions and has reduced reliance on physical proceedings and has accelerated justice delivery. *****