Consumer Protection
1. Explain the concept of ‘consumer protection’ and any three points of its importance from the point of view of consumers.
View AnswerAns. Consumer protection refers to the steps taken to protect and promote the rights of consumers. Since long, consumers have been exploited in various ways, e.g. adulteration, misleading advertising, short weighing, etc. In recent years, there has been increasing awareness among consumers about their rights.
Three importance of consumer protection from the point of view of consumers are
(i) Consumer Awareness: Consumer Protection Act provides required information related to the rights and remedies available to consumers. It spreads awareness, so that a consumer will be able to know about the redressal agencies and can approach them whenever needed.
(ii) Unorganised Consumers: Consumers need to be organised in the form of consumer organisations which would take care of their interests. Due to lack of consumer organisations in India, consumer protection becomes necessary to promote and protect the interests of consumers.
(iii) Widespread Exploitation of Consumers: Consumer is the reason for existence of business still there is lot of exploitation of consumers as businessmen use various unfair trade practices to cheat and exploit consumers. Consumer protection provides safety to consumers from exploitations such as adulteration, black-marketing, hoarding, defective and unsafe products, etc.
2. Explain any three points of importance of consumer protection from the point of view of a business.
View AnswerAns. A business must also lay emphasise on protecting the consumers and adequately satisfying them. This is important because of the following reasons (any three)
(i) Long-term Interest of Business: Customer is the foundation of business. Satisfied consumers not only bring repeated sales but also give positive feedback about the product, which help to increase the customer-base of business. In order to satisfy and retain consumers for long-term, consumer protection is necessary. This facilitates long-term profit maximisation of the firm.
(ii) Business uses Society’s Resources: Business firms use resources that belong to the society such as manpower, mineral resources, capital, etc. Therefore, it is the responsibility of businesses to convert these resources into useful goods and services for the welfare of society.
(iii) Social Responsibility: Business organisation makes money by selling their products to consumers. It is the social responsibility of businessman to provide satisfaction to their customers and take care of their interests.
(iv) Government Intervention: If a business organisation is engaged in any form of exploitative trade practices, government would interfere and can tarnish the image of the company. Therefore, it is in the interest of business itself, to take care of consumer protection.
3. Sumit purchased an ISI marked washing machine of a famous brand MG from TG Electronics Ltd. The shopkeeper asked him to wait for two days for installation of the machine.
His friend, Vivek, was very fond of experimenting with new electronic products. He told Sumit that there is no need to wait for the company’s representative to install the machine and that he could do it. So, both of them installed the machine without following the manufacturer’s instructions. Initially, the machine worked effectively and the wash was good.
But after two days, the machine started stopping in between the wash cycle. Sumit and Vivek tried their best to start the machine but failed in their efforts. Sumit, therefore, approached TG Electronics Ltd, which refused to provide any service on the plea that the installation of the machine was not done by the company.
(i) State the responsibility which Sumit had to fulfil as an aware consumer to get the services of the company.
(ii) Explain briefly any two rights which Sumit could have exercised had he fulfilled his responsibility identified in part (i).
View AnswerAns. (i) As an aware consumer, the responsibility that Sumit should have followed is following the manufacturer’s instructions and user manuals carefully before using the product for safety purposes.
(ii) If Sumit had fulfilled his responsibility, then he could have enjoyed the following rights
(a) Right to be Heard: Under this right, a consumer has the right to file a complaint under appropriate forum established by the government, in case of any grievance or dissatisfaction.
(b) Right to Seek: Redressal Under this right, a consumer has the right to seek redressal and compensation in case of any exploitation. The Consumer Protection Act provides for compensation in various forms such as replacement of product, cash, compensation and repair/removal of defects among others.
4. A consumer should keep in mind certain responsibilities while purchasing, using and consuming goods and services. State any four such responsibilities of a consumer.
View AnswerAns. A consumer should fulfil the following responsibilities, while purchasing, using and consuming goods and services.
(i) Consumer should have Knowledge about Market: A consumer should be aware about the various goods and services available in the market, so that he can make a wise choice by comparing their features and prices.
(ii) Consumer must be Quality Conscious: A consumer should buy standardised goods as they provide quality assurance. Thus, he/she should look for various quality marks, ISI mark on electrical goods, FPO mark on the food products, hallmark on jewellery, etc.
(iii) Use the Product Safely: A consumer should learn about the various risks associated with the use and maintenance of goods. He should follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully and use the product safely.
(iv) Consumer must Read Labels Carefully: A consumer must read the labels carefully, so as to have complete information about the price, quantity, ingredients, usage, contents, expiry date, etc.
5. Gopal, Mohan and Shyam are three friends having their separate small manufacturing units in an industrial estate. They are hard-working and honest and undertake their respective production activities following the good practices of business. They use good quality raw materials and adopt standardised process.
They fix the prices of their products with a reasonable profit margin. But all of them are worried about the malpractices like manufacturing sub-standard, duplicate, and defective goods by the fellow manufacturers. Therefore, they decided to form an organisation with a constitution of its own which is free from government interference. This organisation would encourage consumers to strongly protest and take action against unscrupulous, exploitative and unfair trade practices of sellers.
State three other functions which may be performed by this organisation in addition to those mentioned above.
View AnswerAns. Functions performed by consumer organisations and NGO’s are
(i) They provide legal assistance to consumers by way of providing aid, legal advice, etc in seeking legal remedy.
(ii) Carrying out comparative testing of consumer products in accredited laboratories and publishing the results for the general benefit.
(iii) NGO’s and consumer organisations conduct various training programmes and workshops to educate the consumers about their rights and responsibilities.
6. Suppose, you are familiar with an organisation, who is protecting and promoting the interests of consumers. In this context, state some of the functions of such organisations.
OR
State any three functions performed by non-governmental organisation for consumer protection.
OR
What functions would you perform for the general benefit, if you are running an NGO for consumer protection?
View AnswerAns. These are consumer organisations or NGOs, who are serving different sections of society.
Such organisations perform following functions
(i) Making consumers aware of their rights and responsibilities.
(ii) Educating consumers about the remedies, which are available to them for their protection.
(iii) On behalf of the deceased consumer, protest against malpractices and fraud done by the producers or sellers.
7. ‘RO Youth Club’ organised a visit of its members to an Old Age Home to inculcate the habit of social work among them. The visit revealed that the living conditions of the inmates of the Old Age Home were not hygienic. So, the RO Youth Club members decided to clean the premises. During their cleanliness drive, they realised that the Old Age Home also required pest control.
But some of the inmates of the Old Age Home were reluctant for it because they believed that the pest control may create health problems for them. RO Youth Club, therefore, decided to provide ethical, safe and odourless pest control. They showed to the inmates of the Old Age Home a pamphlet of the proposed pest control product which promised easy, inexpensive and long-lasting pest control. The inmates happily agreed and the pest control was carried out.
The effect of the pest control started wearing off after a fortnight. RO Youth Club contacted the pest control company which kept on postponing their visit. After waiting for a month, RO Youth Club filed a case in the consumer court.
The consumer court was satisfied about the genuineness of the complaint and issued necessary directions to the pest control company.
State any six directions that might have been issued by the court.
View AnswerAns. Directions that might have been issued by the court are
(i) To remove the deficiency in services.
(ii) To refund the price paid for the services, if any.
(iii) To pay a reasonable amount of compensation.
(iv) To pay punitive damages in appropriate cases.
(v) To ban the provision of services by the company.
(vi) To pay adequate costs to the aggrieved party