There are numerous instances where the consumers often complain regarding misbehavior of shopkeepers or cheating them using several malpractices despite all effective measures in place. Earlier, a major cause of worry was that there was not effective mechanism where consumers can highlight their grievances, seeking necessary action against them as existing bodies were either defunct or not working properly for the cause they were constituted. But now, several initiatives have been taken by the Government to ensure early redressal of their grievances, that too in a time bound manner, like e-Daakhil. Till date, a total of 23,640 complaints have been received through e-filing on e-Daakhil portal in last two years. The facility is presently functional in 33 States/UTs for respective NCDRC, State Commission, 13- Circuit Benches, 651-District Commissions. On successful completion of 2 years of e-Daakhil portal, since its inception on 7th September 2020, Secretary Department of Consumer Affairs, Rohit Kumar Singh along with Additional Secretary and Chief Commissioner of Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) Nidhi Khare released an e-book emphasising the far reach of e-Daakhil. At least 84,957 people are registered users in the e-Daakhil portal and 5,590 complaints have been admitted till now. To address the new and emerging concerns affecting consumers, the Consumer Protection Act 2019, was notified and enforced on 20th July, 2020. Going through restrictions on consumers due to COVID-19, the e-Daakhil portal was introduced as inexpensive, speedy and hassle-free mechanism for filing consumer complaints. Pertinently, the e-Daakhil programme offers a simple platform for consumers who are facing time constraint to contact the consumer commission for the resolution of their complaints. It has been agreed to integrate the Common Service Centers (CSC) with the e-Daakhil site in order to make electronic filing easier for rural consumers. The services of CSCs are being used by consumers at the Gram Panchayat level who do not have access to or unable to use electronic means of communication to file complaints with the Consumer Commission. The process of integrating this portal with CSC is now complete. As a result, consumers who lack access to or technical expertise to operate electronic equipment can seek assistance from their local CSCs to lodge complaints with the relevant consumer commission. Several cases make success stories which have been disposed through e-Daakhil. Mainpuri District lead by Justice Subhash Chandra Kulshrestha is leading the country in quickest disposal of cases on e-Daakhil platform. Mandatory Acknowledgement of Consumer Complaints by e-Commerce Entity within 48 hours is established to redress complaints. The efficacious provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, allow the aggrieved consumers to seek compensation for injury. It also contemplates provisions for penalizing the violators by competent court. The Act also encompasses provisions of hearing the complaints through video conferencing in consumer commissions. Any consumer or Advocate can sign up on the e-Daakhil platforms with the required authentication by receiving an OTP on their registered cell phone or an activation link on their registered email address. They can then move on with filing a complaint. The portal has facilitated all aggrieved consumers to submit complaints to consumer commissions online in the comfort of their own homes, to pay the appropriate fees, and track the progress of the case online. With the recent updates, there are 5590 number of cases that has been admitted and 889 numbers of cases that have been disposed off on the e-Daakhil platform. It has been also observed that there is a continuous growth of number of registered users on e-Daakhil from September 2020- August 2022 with the raise from count of 5963 to 84657 users. The e-Daakhil system has several successful cases that were resolved in the districts of Firozabad, Aligarh, Mainpuri, Vaishali, Port Blair, Dumka, West Tripura and Rangareddi and Andaman & Nicobar through this platform. Further, NCH (National Consumer Helpline) – 1915 is in 24X7 service and available in 12 different languages. Whereas, in case of complainant is not satisfied with grievance redressal, the NCH, also redirect the complainant towards e-Daakhil complaint portal. Through this, Government is taking all appropriate action for consumer rights through different platforms. Moving forward, CCPA has sent letters to certain stakeholders to refrain from indulging in surrogate advertisements. Few notices have been sent to advertising agencies with information and broadcast industries for surrogate advertisement. Across different distribution channel, if matters not taken up and did further violations, the CCPA will take appropriate actions for the prevention of consumer rights.
