Swarna Shukla-
Published On: November 10, 2021 at 19:13 IST
The Supreme Court warned that States that fail to file a Status Report on the vacancies in the State Consumer Dispute Commission within a week may face fines of up to two lakh rupees.
A Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.M Sundresh issued a clarification on the judgement of the Bombay High Court on 22/09/2021, striking down the Consumer Protection Act would not impede the appointment made already in other states.
The Amicus Curiae Gopal Sankarnarayan informed the Court that he hasn’t received the reports from many States. The States at default are asked to submit their reports pertaining to infrastructures and manpower within one week to the Amicus Curiae and on failing which the Court will impose costs.
Justice Kaul expressed his discontent towards the non-compliance by the States of the Court’s order dated 22.10.2021 and said that Rs 1-2 Lakh will be imposed if they fail to comply.
Justice Kaul reprimanded that, “Despite a lot of effort I have not been able to change this. When the Court says 4 weeks it means 28 days and 3 weeks means 21 days and not the 22nd day. Somehow respect for time schedules is not kept and unfortunately it throws the hearing out of gear for the simple reason that we don’t seem to discipline ourselves with any sense of time.”
A Legislative impact was undertaken and submitted via an Affidavit by the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aman Lekhi. The Bench asked ASG Lekhi to share a copy of the report.
The Court stated, “Pursuant of an order of this Court dated 11.08.2021, a legislative impact assessment has been conducted. It appears it has not been shared with the Amicus. The needful be shared. We call upon both the Amicus and Mr. Lekhi to jointly examine the report.”
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