Telangana High Court Questions Delay in Appointing Consumer Redressal Commission President
HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court questioned the state government over the day in appointing the president of the State Consumer Redressal Commission; the post has been vacant since February 2023.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti granted two weeks to the government provide clarity, and to follow the Supreme Court judgment which had relaxed the mandate of the written exam for former judges of the High Court who aspire for the post.
The bench was dealing with a PIL filed by advocate Baglekar Akash Kumar. Since July 2023, the government has been seeking adjournments.
The Supreme Court, in a general ruling last year, had mandated that the selection of the president and members for state and district consumer commissions should be based on the candidates' performance in a written test comprising two papers.
On March 7 this year, the Supreme Court said that those seeking to be presidents of the consumer dispute commissions should be selected on the basis of a written test and viva voice.
Government counsels told the Telangana High Court that they were not aware about the Supreme Court orders and sought time.
The High Court bench directed government counsel to go through the Supreme Court judgment and sought a response by June 24. The court observed that the consumer dispute redressal forums were established to benefit the citizens and the governments were making them non-functionary by not filling up the posts. By that, the governments themselves were stopping the consumers from getting resolution of their disputes.
