Consumer courts not working up to speed after being burdened with family, criminal cases

Seated on a wooden bench in a small courtroom, Mukhtar Ahmed Butt, a retired army officer, is patiently waiting for his case to be taken up. He has filed a claim in the District South consumer court against an electronics company for refusing to replace his refrigerator's faulty compressor under its 10-year warranty.

"I had bought a Samsung fridge with a 10-year warranty compressor in January 2017. It stopped working last year, and I filed a warranty claim with the company's service provider. The technician sent to my home to inspect it found a fault with the compressor and advised taking it to the service centre for repair," Butt explains.

He says that the company took the fridge for repair but later refused to honour the warranty on the pretext that he had previously had it repaired from the bazaar, thereby voiding the warranty.

"Why would I go to the bazaar when that thing was still under warranty, so I decided to take them to the court," he adds.

Mukhtar recalls that at the very first hearing, the company's representative expressed willingness to have the fridge's compressor replaced, which he refused. "It was now not a question of repair but mental torture I have been subjected to."

However, the judge proposed that the company either replaced the fridge or paid the cost of the new one the claimant had bought. At this, the representative said it was beyond his authority to commit to it at that time but promised to convey the proposal to his boss. After that, none turned up in court on behalf of the company despite being issued repeated notices.

"I am not satisfied with the procedure," Butt laments as it was the seventh time he was appearing in the court. He says the court should give the defendant no more than two chances to file a response and upon failure, it should decide the case ex-parte.

"At best, consumer court cases should be decided within a month," he opines.

In 2019, the provincial government set up 29 consumer courts at the district level, four years after the passage of the Sindh Consumer Protection Act, 2014 -- that too when the Sindh High Court was petitioned over failure to implement the law.

Six consumer courts were established in Karachi's as many districts that time — East, West, Central, South, Korangi and Malir. not been

Cases

Statistics suggest that the consumer courts have received a relatively low number of cases since their establishment. The consumer court in District South leads with the highest number of cases filed, accounting for over half of the total cases filed in all the six consumer courts of Karachi.

As of June 2024, a total of 324 cases have been filed in the District South consumer court with 143 of them disposed of and 186 pending.

In District East, 175 cases were filed, with 125 disposed of and 50 pending. In contrast, the District Central consumer court received just 42 cases, with 36 disposed of and six pending. The Malir consumer court received 42 cases, with 17 still pending and the rest disposed of. The Korangi consumer court heard a total of 31 cases, with 16 disposed of, while the West consumer court received a relatively small number of cases, 15 to 16.

Civil judges and judicial magistrates were appointed as presiding officers of the special courts. Given fewer to zero cases in their initial months of establishment, the courts were assigned family, civil and criminal cases, which seems to have diluted their focus and efficiency as well as added to backlog of cases, especially in courts where the rate of case institution is high.

"Under the Act, consumer courts are required to decide a claim within six months once summons are served on opposite party," Advocate Faraz Fahim explains. "But the presiding officers have been burdened with criminal cases, due to which they are unable to give more time to consumer cases."

He highlights that the Constitution accords paramount importance to protection of life and liberty and since criminal cases involve an individual's freedom, they take precedence over consumer cases.

Furthermore, he mentioned that after a claim is filed in a consumer court and notice is served on defendant, the judge explores option of a pre-trial settlement as mandated by the law. This process often resolves cases within a month.

Currently, the lawyer said cases take up to a year and a half to be decided. However, in 2019, when courts were not saddled with criminal or other cases some judicial officers would decide cases within two to three months after the trials.

About the high caseload in South and East courts, he said it can be attributed to the presence of manufacturer and service provider head offices in these districts.

Hassle-free litigation

When Butt decided to approach the consumer court, he himself drafted his complaint and filed it in the court without engaging any lawyer.

“Anyone can file a case, not just in consumer court, but in any civil or criminal court. Filing a case in a consumer court is relatively easy and does not involve technicalities," Advocate Fahim explains.

Lately, posters for awareness about filing a case in consumer courts have been put up at the City Courts.

"Now every consumer has right to approach consumer courts free of cost, there is no need to engage any advocate or pay any court fee on his/her claim," reads the poster.

It says any consumer can file a claim against any shopkeeper or institution (private or government), from where he/she has purchased any product or hired any services and the said product or services are defective or faulty. There is also no limit to the claims as consumers can claim unlimited compensation and damages.

Elaborating the procedure, the poster reads: "The 15 days' notice is not necessary to be sent through any advocate, however, it may be sent by the consumer on simple paper addressing his/her grievance.”

The consumer, however, has to file the claim/complaint within 30 days after the date when a defect in the product or fault in the service came into their knowledge.

Lack of awareness

Legal experts blame low number of cases in the consumer courts on lack of awareness among the public about their rights and availability of such legal forums to seek remedies regarding faulty products or services.

"There is a lack awareness. It is the duty of the consumer protection councils at the district level and government to run an awareness campaign about consumer rights and remedies available. Courts themselves have also started a campaign but it is limited to posters on its premises." Advocate Fahim said.

He suggested that campaigns be run at shopping centres and through TV advertisements to make people aware of the legal option they have if they are duped.