Parliament Question: Strengthen Consumer Justice Delivery Mechanisms

Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1899 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026 STRENGTHEN CONSUMER JUSTICE DELIVERY MECHANISMS 1899. SHRI ANURAG SHARMA: Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state: (a) the details of technology-enabled and digital initiatives undertaken by the Government to strengthen consumer justice delivery, including e-Daakhil, virtual consumer courts and helpline mechanisms, with specific reference to their implementation and accessibility in the Jhansi and Lalitpur districts of Uttar Pradesh; (b) the achievements recorded under these initiatives during the last year in Jhansi–Lalitpur and the Bundelkhand region, in terms of the number of consumer cases filed and disposed, virtual hearings conducted, refunds facilitated and grievances resolved through online platforms; (c) the regulatory and enforcement actions taken by the Central Consumer Protection Authority to curb unfair trade practices, misleading advertisements and overpricing affecting consumers in semi-urban and rural areas of Jhansi and Lalitpur; and (d) whether the Government proposes to further strengthen digital infrastructure, consumer awareness programmes and district-level consumer commissions in Bundelkhand to ensure redressal; and (e) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI B.L.VERMA) (a) & (b) : 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. The details regarding the number of consumer cases filed and disposed in the consumer commissions of Bundelkhand region during 2025 are at Annexure.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. 1,185 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 ₹46 crore to consumers between 25th April 2025 and 31st December 2025. This significant redressal was achieved across 31 sectors, effectively addressing 69,058 consumer grievances related to refund claims. The details of complaints registered and complaints disposed on NCH during the last year in the States of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is as under: S. Year State Total no. of complaints registered Total no. of complaints disposed No. Uttar Pradesh (including 7 2,64,945 1 districts of 2,72,248 Bundelkhand region) 2025 Madhya Pradesh (including 6 83,414 2 districts of 85,967 Bundelkhand region) (c) : Under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is empowered to intervene for preventing consumer detriment arising from unfair trade practices through issuance of guidelines and class action(s), including the enforcement of recalls, refunds and return of products. It has the mandate to prevent and regulate false or misleading advertisements which are prejudicial to the public interest. The CCPA has notified the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022 on 9th June, 2022. These guidelines inter-alia provide for; (a) conditions for an advertisement to be non-misleading and valid; (b) certain stipulations in respect of bait advertisements and free claim advertisements; and, (c) duties of manufacturer, service provider, advertiser and advertising agency. Central Consumer Protection Authority, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 18 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, issued “Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023” on 30th November, 2023, listing 13 specified dark patterns identified in e-Commerce sector. These dark patterns include false urgency, Basket Sneaking, Confirm shaming, forced action, Subscription trap, Interface Interference, Bait and switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised Advertisements, Nagging, Trick Wording, Saas Billing and Rogue Malwares.An “Advisory in terms of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 on Self-Audit by E-Commerce Platforms for detecting the Dark Patterns on their platforms to create a fair, ethical and consumer centric digital ecosystem” was issued by Central Consumer Protection Authority on 5th June, 2025. All E-Commerce platforms have been advised to conduct self-audits to identify dark patterns, within three months of the issue of the advisory and give self-declarations that their platform is not indulging in any dark patterns. 28 leading e-commerce platforms have voluntarily submitted their self-declaration letters confirming compliance with the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023. Section 19 (2) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provides that if the Central Authority, upon determining that a particular matter falls within the jurisdiction of a Regulator established under any other law for the time being in force, may refer the matter to the respective Regulator, accompanied by its report. The CCPA's role is to complement sector regulators in a way that it avoids duplication, overlap or potential conflict. As such, the matters relating to other Ministries/Regulators/Authorities are forwarded to the concerned by the Central Authority for appropriate action in the matter, as per their mandate and extant rules. Guidelines issued by CCPA (i) Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022 were issued on 09th June, 2022 (ii) Guidelines that hotels and restaurants shall not levy service charge issued on 4th July, 2022. (iii) Guidelines on Prevention of Dark Pattern 2023 were issued on 30th November, 2023 (iv) Guidelines for the Prevention and Regulation of Greenwashing, 2024 were issued 15th October, 2024 (v) Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector 2024 were issued 13th November, 2024 (vi) Guidelines for the Prevention and Regulation of Illegal Listing and Sale of Radio Equipment including Walkie Talkies on E-Commerce Platforms, 2025 were issued on 27.05.2025. Advisories Issued by CCPA (i) CCPA Advisory in terms of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 on Self-Audit by E-Commerce Platforms for detecting the Dark Patterns on their platforms to create a fair, ethical, and consumer-centric digital ecosystem dated 05.06.2025. (ii) Advisory in terms of Consumer Protection Act, 2019, on risk to life & safety of consumers through sale of car seat belt alarm stopper. (iii) Advisory in terms of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 concerning sale of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani Drugs containing ingredients listed in Schedule (E) (1) of the Drug and Cosmetic Rules, 1945 on e- commerce platforms. (iv) Advisory in terms of Consumer Protection Act 2019 concerning illegal facilitation and sale of wireless jammers on e-commerce platforms (v) Advisory in terms of Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 for displaying information provided by sellers to marketplace e-commerce platforms (vi) Advisory in terms of Consumer Protection, 2019 for resorting to misleading advertisements. (d) & (e) : The responsibility for establishment of Consumer Commissions in the States as well as providing all necessary infrastructures for their effective functioning rests with the State Governments. However, the Central Government has been extending financial assistance under the Strengthening of Consumer Commissions (SCC) Scheme to the State Governments to meet the gaps in resources for ensuring a basic minimum infrastructure (both building and non-building) required for the effective functioning of the Consumer Commissions and for honouring the shared responsibility of consumer protection.Under the SCC scheme, the Central Government’s assistance for building purposes, is limited to creation of built up area of 5,000 square feet in respect of a District Commission building and 11,000 square feet in respect of a State Commission building, which include 1000 square ft. for construction of a Mediation Centre (both for State Commission and District Commission). Assistance for non-building assets is released within the overall cost ceiling of Rs. 25.00 lakh in respect of a State Commission and Rs. 10.00 lakh in respect of a District Commission, irrespective of the location of the Consumer Commission. The Department of Consumer Affairs also administers a scheme titled “Computerization & Computer Networking of Consumer Commissions” (CONFONET), under which, IT infrastructure of consumer commissions is strengthened by way of providing computer hardware, software and technically skilled manpower. Under this scheme, VC equipment for conducting hearing through video conferencing mode has been installed and made functional at 10 benches of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) and 35 benches of State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions (SCDRCs). Department of Consumer Affairs has been generating country-wide multimedia consumer awareness campaign under the aegis of “Jago Grahak Jago” through various media including electronic, outdoor and social media. The Department participates in prominent fairs/festivals/events where a large number of people may congregate. The Department also releases grants-in-aid to various States/UTs for generating awareness at local level. The Department in 2022-23 has launched "Jagriti", a mascot for empowering consumers and generating awareness if their rights. Jagriti is projected as an empowered young consumer. With the objective of strengthening consumer awareness at the village and Gram Panchayat level, the Department has also conducted a series of virtual capacity-building sessions for Gram Panchayats in States/UTs including Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. ****ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1899 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026 REGARDING STRENGTHEN CONSUMER JUSTICE DELIVERY MECHANISMS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sl No. Name of Number of Cases Filed Number of Cases Disposed Commission (also includes the cases disposed which were filed in the previous years) 1 Banda 89 31 2 Chitrakoot 53 7 3 Hamirpur 80 123 4 Jalaun 72 134 5 Jhansi 341 373 6 Lalitpur 111 122 7 Mahoba 76 116 8 Chhatarpur 264 192 9 Damoh 192 193 10 Datia 96 49 11 Panna 48 44 12 Sagar 317 389 13 Tikamgarh 159 180 Total 1898 1953 *****