ISLAMABAD: A petition seeking an exclusive consumer court for the federal capital has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Petitioner Advocate Jehangir Wains contended in the petition that the Parliament had passed the Consumer Protection Act 1995, for the provision of expeditious remedies to the consumers and immediate redressal of their grievances and complaints.The petition said that currently two sessions courts of Islamabad have been entrusted the functions of consumers courts. But these two courts are already burdened with murder trials, civil appeals and administrative works and are not in a position to dispose of the consumers’ complaints in a speedy manner. Hence, the real objective of the said act is being affected adversely, the petition further said.

It also noted that the federal government has already established exclusive consumer courts at district level in Punjab. It said that due to unavailability of the consumer courts, millions of the consumers are being deprived.

“Due to the said reason most of the consumers do not prefer to file the complaint against the wrong doers, fearing that their complaints shall be treated as civil suits in ordinary sessions courts,” the petition maintained.

As a result, the service providers do not pay proper attention while dealing with the consumers and to maintain the standard of their products. They are playing with the lives of common man, the petition said, adding that the nature of consumers’ complaints requires that the exclusive courts in each sessions divisions of Islamabad should be established so that the consumers’ complaints may be disposed off within a week.

The respondent authorities – ministries of law and justice, finance and chief commissioner Islamabad – being public functionaries are legally required to fulfill their statuary obligation to establish exclusive district consumer courts at sessions division east and west of Islamabad.

The petition requested the court to direct the respondents to establish the consumer courts, as well as consumers’ protection council, as provided under section III of the Islamabad Consumer Protection Act 1995.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2014