Summary moved to set up 23 consumer protection courts

The Sindh agriculture department has sent a summary to the chief minister for the approval of an allocation of Rs 2.06 billion to establish 23 consumer protection courts across the province.

Work is already under way to establish six consumer protections courts in as many cities of the province in the first stage. Their number will increase to 29 if the CM approves the summary and new courts are formed in the second stage.

The establishment of consumer protection courts in Sindh has been long overdue as the Sindh Consumer Protection Act, which provided for the formation of such courts, was passed by the Sindh Assembly in 2014.

In the absence of such courts, general consumers in the province have no legal recourse available to them where they could seek justice in case they are overcharged or exploited in terms of pricing, standard or other aspects of the products they purchased from the market.

In the first stage, consumer protection courts are being established in the cities of Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sukkur, and Larkana. The finance department has allocated required funds for these six courts.

Of the planned 23 consumer courts in the second stage, five courts will be established in Karachi with an estimated amount of Rs 476.45 million, of which Rs 51.5 million will be spent on creating positions of staffers for the courts.

Rest of the 18 courts will be established in divisions of the province other than Karachi with an amount of Rs 1.583 billion, of which Rs 185.4 million will be spent to meet staffing requirements.

Hamid Maker, founder trustee of the Helpline Trust, a non-governmental organisation working for the cause of consumer protection, said it was high time the provincial government established consumer courts in Sindh to protect basic rights of consumers as the relevant law had been enacted a couple of years back. According to him, the establishment of consumer courts in Sindh had also become necessary in view of the clear directives of the apex judiciary to the government in that regard.