Central Consumer Protection Authority to be set up by April: Ram Vilas Paswan

After discussions with industry representatives on provisions of the proposed authority, Paswan said an investigative wing is envisaged to be formed under the aegis of CCPA, which shall carry out investigations in matters relating to consumer rights, unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements.

He also stressed on the “need to regulate e-commerce and direct selling as at present there is no regulatory body for these sectors and online purchases are increasing every day”.

“Various Industry bodies and representatives such as FICCI, ASSOCHAM, CII, DICCI, Amazon, HUL, P&G, Vodafone, Snapdeal, Zomato, PAYTM etc took part in the discussions and agreed to work together to provide consumers quality products and services,” Paswan said.

According to the Section 10(1) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the government is required to establish a Central Consumer Protection Authority.

Sources said the Centre wants to keep the authority lean with a chief commissioner heading it and two commissioners as members.

“The district collectors have also been empowered to conduct investigations that affect interests of consumer as a class under Consumer Protection Act 2019, under the aegis of CCPA”, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

“The establishment of a central authority and initiating action as a class comes as an additional mode of relief, which can be exercised along with individual consumers filing complaints to address their grievances thereby having two parallel proceedings,” it said.