New Delhi:
Government is planning to introduce amendments to the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) 1986 in the ongoing Winter session of Parliament, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said today.
"To strengthen consumer protection, we are bringing several amendments to the existing act. I am hopeful we will be able to introduce in this session," Mr Pawan told reporters on the sidelines of stakeholders' consultation meeting on amendments to Consumer Protection Act.
Many changes have been made to the current law to protect consumer rights and simplify the judicial process to ensure speedy and inexpensive justice, he said.
After taking inputs from stakeholders, the amendments will be finalised and placed before the Cabinet for approval, he added.
Some of the key amendments include setting up of regulatory authority to address consumer grievances, penal action against defaulting companies and empowering consumers to file case against sellers from their place of residence instead at the place of transaction.
The other changes proposed are doing away with the requirement of engaging lawyers in the consumer forums if the goods or services availed is of less than Rs 2 lakh value.
The amended Act is likely to have provisions to cover e-commerce companies and some other service providers like Railways and courier firms.