New Portal: Good news for customers troubled by fake claims and services of companies, now the portal will open for you.
There is good news for consumers unhappy with any purchased services. Two people with knowledge of the matter said that now the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has launched a portal for the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Friday. This portal will be a dedicated online portal for complaints of common consumers, where they will be able to register their complaints.
This portal has been launched in view of continuous violations of advertising guidelines. This is an effort to stop rule violations. This portal will serve as a platform to “name and shame” those who break the rules. This portal will be launched on World Consumer Rights Day celebrated every year on 15 March. At present, there is no right to make public the notices and orders issued against companies making false advertisements.
According to experts, “The portal will show all the final judgments issued against entities involved in misleading advertisements, violation of consumer rights, such as coaching institutes or service providers, so that consumers can know the exact status of their complaints.”
Launch after four years
This portal comes almost four years after the launch of CCPA in July 2020. Ashim Sanyal, CEO of consumer rights group VOICE, said, “A dedicated portal will help consumers lodge complaints against companies providing poor services. Earlier, consumers had to struggle to find this one specific link to resolve their complaints.” CCPA was established under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 to regulate cases related to violation of consumer rights, unfair business practices and false advertisements that harm the interests of the public and consumers.
Consumer will benefit
Manish K Shubhay, Partner, The Precept-Law Office, said, “The creation of a dedicated portal for complaint registration will undoubtedly directly benefit consumers. With increased awareness among consumers, even small violations ignored by the common people can come to light. He further said, “This will make the Central Authority more capable of working towards empowering consumers.”
Supreme Court lawyer Shubhay said, “Investigation of private complaints under CCPA will save time and efforts of consumers. This can involve possible arbitration and settlement with companies providing goods or services. This will result in financial burden on private consumers. The burden will be less.”
Continuous action continues
Recent actions by the CCPA have gone some way in curbing deceptive advertising, including advertising against well-known organizations; Despite this, violations of its advertising guidelines continue. India’s consumer protection regime has been strengthened in recent times. The 1986 Act has been replaced by the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 to modernize the system controlling consumer protection in the era of globalization, technology and e-commerce. CCPA is preparing to bring rules to protect the rights of consumers regarding surrogate advertisements, harassing calls, misleading advertisements of IAS coaching institutes, greenwashing, dark patterns etc.
