Daily Times

There are four Consumer Protection Laws that are operative in Pakistan: Punjab Consumer Protection Act 2005 (PCPA), Balochistan Consumer Protection Act 2003, Islamabad Consumer Protection Act 1995, Sindh Consumer Protection Ordinance 2004 (promulgated in Sindh years ago but it lapsed as same was not presented before the provincial assembly, and NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Consumer Protection Act 1997. Territories falling within federal or provincial administration—FATA and PATA—are without consumer protection laws, and some are with and some without constitutional status. These laws that came into existence with establishment of consumer courts deal with consumer related disputes.

There is no uniform piece of legislation available at federal level to guarantee protection to consumers, unlike in India and most other countries of the world. It is, therefore, presumed that consumer protection falls within provincial domain, and not within federal domain of legislation. There are 11 consumer courts across Punjab; not a single consumer court is operational in Balochistan to date; and the scene is also bleak in Khyer Pakhtunkhwa for consumer protection. The obligation of manufacturer of a product is not to deceive or make false, misleading, or deceptive statements to consumers, or making available bad quality products, knowingly or unknowingly, to consumers. If a manufacturer/seller does so, he will be held liable to the consumer for damages under the consumer law.

To date, Pakistan has not bothered to enact a single uniform piece of legislation applicable across Pakistan for protecting consumers from misleading and deceptive practices of manufacturers/sellers. The failure on part of successive governments shows that this area has still not received due attention at all. The four consumer protection laws are more or less similar in their letter and spirit, but the general public of Pakistan is not yet fully aware of provisions as well as laws pertaining to consumer protections. The PCPA has 39 sections to deal with disputes relating to consumers within the territorial jurisdiction of the Punjab province.

A consumer court was established not so long ago in Lahore, and it is operational for helping consumers who live within the territorial jurisdiction of Lahore and its surrounding towns and cities. The definition of what a consumer is, and details of recourses available to consumers in case of any breach of consumer protection law are available in the PCPA 2005. The consumer court is given wide powers under the Section 25 of CPA 2005 to entertain a complaint of a consumer who has been deceived or misled by the manufacturer or been sold a defective or faulty product within 30 days from arising of cause of action. However, there is exception to this requirement though. The judge/presiding officer of the consumer court after a thorough study of the complaint serve notices upon parties/defendant(s) against whom the complaint is being filed by the consumer for redress of his grievance.

The PCPA 2005 lays a requisite before filing a complaint in the consumer court, which is to serve a 15-day legal notice. It must be sent through registered post (which is to made a part of complaint/plaint at the time of filing a suit in the consumer court) upon the manufacturer/seller intimating him for selling faulty or unfit product/service. The consumer can seek damages from the manufacturer within 15 days of receipt of legal notice; if the manufacturer fails to respond to the notice, only then the consumer can proceed to consumer court for redress of his lawful and just grievance against the manufacturer.

Overall purpose of mentioned laws is to protect consumers from false, misleading, and mischievous practices of manufacturers/sellers in order to sell their products/services. The false, misleading and mischievous practices are mentioned in Section 21 of PCPA in detail. Generally, manufacturer/seller at the time of preliminary negotiations make plethora of unfair or frivolous statements in order to induce unaware or innocent consumers into a contract that affects the consumer with an intent to swindle him.

The consumer protection phenomenon is not so old across the globe, but in developed societies consumers’ interest and protection are part of the system, and consumers are well aware of their rights and protection laws. The UN guidelines are of great help for courts that deal with consumer related disputes across the world. The laws of consumer protection across the globe are very clear and detailed, and manufactures, in general, respect these laws, as their practice promotes a sense of trust bewteen the seller and the buyer. The dilemma of consumer protection laws across Pakistan is that there are no guidelines available for the courts dealing with consumer protection as to how to deal and handle disputes. The majority of the legal fraternity are unaware of which procedure to follow for conducting litigation in the consumer court — the provisions of criminal law or civil law. A few years ago, a high court judge laid down a few guiding principles for consumer courts to follow, but they have not been followed, in both letter and spirit.

There are a number of cases pending adjudicating in the Lahore consumer court for a long time. While talking to some litigants, I was told by Salman Ali, an aggrieved of misleading and false representation by one of leading fabric makers of Pakistan, that the proceeding of the consumer court is very slow. And that there are no instructions and guiding principles available at all as to how to file a case in the consumer court, and how to contest it for seeking justice and quick redressal of grievance. A number of examples can be quoted, but in culmination I submit that consumer protection laws must be strengthened, and the general public must be made aware of their rights and laws as consumers for promoting a free and fair market set-up. Consumer courts must also be given full-fledged support and a solid mechanism for taking up disputes and dispensation of quick justice to consumers aggrieved by misleading practices of manufacturers.

The writer is a Lahore-based lawyer, and he can be reached at greenlaw123@hotmail.com