Law adviser assures of legislative interventions to strengthen consumer protection law

The Sindh government will do legislative intervention wherever it is required to strengthen the system of consumer rights’ protection as laid down in the Sindh Consumer Protection Act 2014.

The adviser to the Sindh chief minister on law and information, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, gave this assurance on Friday while he was speaking at a seminar, titled ‘Role of consumer courts in protecting consumers’, jointly organised by the Helpline Trust and the National Forum for Environment and Health on the occasion of World Consumers Rights Day, which is observed every year on March 15.

Wahab told the seminar that being the provincial adviser on law, the doors of his office were always open if anyone wanted to approach the government to propose improvements in the Sindh Consumer Protection Act 2014 to strengthen it further and make easier for people the process of seeking relief from consumer courts.

Staff will be appointed for 29 consumer courts established in each district keeping in view the directives of the Supreme Court and the required amendment in the law to that effect had been approved by the Sindh cabinet, the law adviser said.

Abdul Hamid Maker, founding trustee of Helpline Trust, informed the seminar that the establishment of consumer courts in Sindh took around five years after the passage of the law in 2014. He said the Helpline Trust would provide full assistance to the aggrieved consumers if they wanted its help in filing a case in the consumer court against a defective service or product.

Helpline Trustee Afia Salam, who moderated the event, offered the organisation’s assistance to the government to spread awareness and help people in getting redress from the consumer courts.

She also gave the message of Justice (retd) Majida Razvi, another trustee of the organisation, to the adviser. The message offered assistance to the government for addressing consumers’ issues through participation in the consumer councils.

Former senator and former federal information minister Javed Jabbar was the keynote speaker at the event. He said the consumers, while they demand of the state to ensure their rights, should also remember their obligations to the state by way of paying taxes. Jabbar also called for developing a culture of responsible consumerism in order to avoid social and economic injustice to people who were living below the poverty line.