Govt to set up 4th bench of consumer court in city

Kolkata: The state Consumer Affairs department will soon set up another bench of consumer court within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area.

This bench, which will be the 4th such facility in Kolkata, will come up inside the premises of Sealdah Court. The department is optimistic of making it operational by January 2020.

"Presently there are three benches that take up consumer related cases in the city. Two of these are in the building of Kreta Suraksha Bhavan at Mirza Ghalib Street, while another bench is at Alipore. We are now creating another bench at Sealdah Court for similar purpose. The authorities of Sealdah Court are giving us space in its building premises and all consumer related matters under the eastern suburban jurisdiction of Kolkata Police will be taken up here," said state Consumer Affairs minister Sadhan Pande, at a seminar organised by his department to mark the occasion of National Consumer Day.

The department has already got the nod of Calcutta High Court for setting up the infrastructure.

The department presently has 30 regional offices, spanning across all the districts in the state. However, there are a number of districts which have a very large area. For example, Barasat in North 24-Parganas has had a single regional office for the whole district.

The department has come up with a court facility at Rajarhat and thus has two offices in North 24-Parganas.

"We have plans for 10 more regional offices in the districts which have a large area. Murshidabad, East Midnapore etc. will have more regional offices of consumer affairs," Pande said.

The department presently has 22 consumer assistance bureaus (CABs), with a mission of providing legal assistance to aggrieved people on filing and maintaining consumer complaint with statutory forums.

"Our department has introduced a very unique, easy and hassle-free mechanism of resolving consumer disputes through the process of mediation. The entire mediation process is free of cost," Pande added.

The minister handed awards to school students for coming out with the best posters, slogans and essays on consumer related issues, in a competition organised by his department.

Earlier in the day, the minister inaugurated a rally on consumer awareness in Central Kolkata.