A PIL has been filed based on the Express report published on December 23 stating that more than half of the 30 district forums are either without a president or the required number of members.
Hearing the petition, the High Court on Friday ordered issuance of notice to State Government, Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (KSCDRC).
During the hearing, petitioners Basanagowda Patil and five others submitted that there is no consumer forum in Ramanagaram, Yadagiri and Chikkaballapura and the post of president in the district consumer forum in Bidar has been lying vacant for more than a year.
The post of the two members has not been filled up in the KSCDRC.
The Express report had mentioned that seven presidents’ posts are vacant in various District Consumer Redressal Forums. There are no presidents in Kolar, Hassan, Kodagu, Chikmagalur, Bangalore Rural and Urban I and Bangalore Urban II additional district consumer forums.
In the case of members, while the sanctioned strength is 60, the number of unfilled posts is 27. Bangalore Urban II Additional DCDRF and the Kodagu district forums have neither a president nor members while Bangalore Urban IV Additional, Mandya, Raichur, Tumkur, Uttara Kannada and Udupi DCDRF have no members.
Hearing the petition, a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice K Sreedhar Rao and Justice B V Nagarathna ordered notice and adjourned the case for further hearing.