Supreme Court Seeks Centre, States Reply On Plea For Consumer's 'Right To Know'

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and the states on a plea to declare consumers had a "right to know" about products aside from the details of distributors and sellers.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta sought the responses within four weeks.

The petition filed by petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay said "right to know" was crucial for consumers to make informed choices and to protect themselves from unfair or restrictive trade practices and unscrupulous exploitation.

The plea sought directions to the authorities concerned to ensure every distributor, trader and shop owner displayed details of registration, including name, address, phone number and number of employees at the entry gate in bold letters on a display board visible to people.

"Right to know helps consumers avoid falling prey to a fraudulent or deceptive distributor, dealer, trader, seller and shop owner, who might misrepresent a product/service or disappear after sale, purchase and money transaction," said the plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey.

If a consumer has an issue with a product or service, the plea said, knowing details of the distributor, dealer, and seller was essential for filing a complaint and seeking redressal through consumer redressal fora.

"When a distributor, dealer, trader, seller and shop owner are transparent about their details, it fosters a fair and competitive market where consumers can make informed choices," the plea said.

The plea further argues that the the right to know empowers consumers to be informed or protected and to make choices when engaging in sales, purchases and money transactions.

The petitioner underlined not only does the consumer have the right to know about quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard, manufacturing date, expiry date and BIS or FSSAI certification of the goods or products, but also the details of the distributor, dealer, trader, seller and shop owner. 

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