The Crucial Role of Mediation in Commercial ...

The Crucial Role of Mediation in Commercial Consumer Protection: Resolving Disputes for a Fair Marketplace

Author Name : Aparnaa. V. P, Vikky Kumar

ABSTRACT The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 , the sole purpose was to protect the rights of the consumers and to provide speedy redressal to them has become archaic and does not consider modern day consumer market challenges, especially those dealing with online, teleshopping, product recall, unsafe contracts and misleading advertisements. Further consumer courts in India, are burdened with more than 4.3 lakh pending cases and for petty amounts consumers have to wait for years to get justice. In order to strengthen and empower consumer rights in India The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 which is considered as a milestone in protecting the rights of the consumers has been passed by the parliament. The New Consumer Protection law repeals and replaces the CPA, 1986 and seeks establishment of Central Consumer Protection Authority, mediation, product liability, and faster redressal by the consumer commissions. The author identifies important questions stemming from the discontinuities in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, the backlog and pendency of consumer cases and discusses how mediation as proposed in the new law can be a game changer in consumer protection.