Dysfunctional consumer courts and spurious commodities

“Customer is a king”. This saying is not applicable in Pakistan where a buyer is always at the losing end while a seller always thrives. Our shopping malls and markets are packed with substandard commodities that are sold on extra rates. From vegetables
to fruits, from meats to pelvises and from shoes to outfitters; nothing is pure. Why it is so? Very simple, it is the result of inactive consumer courts.

We are forced to buy bogus commodities from our markets on high prices, and we are unable to challenge this exploitation. In some cases, the edible items produce detrimental effects for health and even cause causalities, but it is taken as manifestation
of God’s will while the manufacturers and sellers go unnoticed and unpunished.

You purchase a commodity and it proves to be stale or inadequate, but you have nothing to do except wasting it or using it as the seller will not accommodate your claims. If you go to a consumer court and file a case, you will have to wait till your death
for a decision that is definitely destined to be against you.

In this situation, it is hard to have a healthy and happy society. Every third person is suffering from one disease or the other. The hospitals are awash with patients. The people have lost immunity powers. All this is a result of below-par foods.

The same goes with other commodities of daily use. Every seller has his own price. There are no rate lists and no parameters available to judge the equation between things and their costs.

Here, I am forced to cite an example of the Western society where consumer courts are working more effectively than anything else. The producer or seller, who is found to be marketing a substandard commodity, is punished and fined immediately. Any buyer,
be is a beggar or a minister, who knocks the door of consumer court, is given justice on spot.

Why do not we adopt this model? Very simple, if our rulers implement and follow a just system, they will have to be deprived of undue advantages and unfair earnings which are bound to affect their luxury life styles. This is where lies the major fault line.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=9278

Posted by Sharjeel Ahmad on Jan 14 2012. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry