An Right to
information (RTI) reply has revealed that the maximum number of complaints
received by consumer forums in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) pertains to
housing. Of 24,278 complaints MMR's 6
forums received in roughly the past 15 years, housing leads with 7,499,
followed by insurance, which is a distant second with 4,291 complaints.
Experts say the
reason is skyrocketing housing prices accompanied by increasing malpractice by
builders and developers.
Unsurprisingly, the
greatest chunks of housing complaints are from Thane (4,670 cases ) and Navi
Mumbai (1,031 cases), which have witnessed frenetic construction activity in
recent years.
However, South
Mumbai, which has MMR's most expensive real estate pockets, received a
comparatively low 702 cases.
Above 25 years after the enactment of the Consumer
Protection Act, consumer forums across the MMR are battling the problem of
pendency . While this is witnessed by other judicial bodies as well, what makes
it exceptional in the case of consumer forums is that the number of cases
received by them is not remotely close to what, say, the criminal courts
receive.
The reply to an RTI
application by activist Mr. Chetan Kothari shows that by August this year
(2012), the Thane consumer forum had the highest backlog of cases (1,721
cases), followed by the Mumbai suburban forum (1,508 cases).
Typically, the forums
receive a few dozen complaints a month. For instance, in July, 2012 Thane
received 42 complaints and the suburbs 59. The same month, the Thane & the
Thane additional forum (which hears complaints from Navi Mumbai) did not
dispose of a single case.
The numbers have gone
up since June, 2012 when the Thane forum had 1,679 pending cases, the suburban
forum 1,472 cases, the additional suburban forum (distinct from the suburban
forum) 658 cases, the South Mumbai forum 646 cases, the Thane additional forum
379 cases and the Central Mumbai forum 425 cases.
Overall (after July,
2012), the additional Mumbai suburban forum has 673 pending cases, the South
Mumbai forum 652 pending cases, the Central Mumbai forum 467 pending cases and
the Thane additional forum 416 pending cases.
Even cases that are 5
to 10 years old are pending. The suburban forum has the maximum of such cases
(499), followed by Central Mumbai (370), Thane (81) and South Mumbai (76).
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