Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T11:23:35.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The View from Inside India’s Consumer Fora: Empowering the Few

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2015

Robert MOOG
Robert MOOG*
Affiliation:
KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores one aspect of India’s attempts to address its access to justice dilemma through the establishment of district-level consumer fora. Data points are extracted from 1,400 cases nationwide to piece together a portrait of the input and output of these institutions. The data collected include: win/loss rates; time from filing to decision; presence of attorneys (and their effects on win/loss rates and time from filing to decision); amounts of damages and costs awarded; and types of cases filed. In the end, this sampling of cases, combined with observations and interviews, led to several broad conclusions—that access to justice is increased but not for the marginalized or poor; that the consumer fora are severely underused; and that they are highly localized institutions leaving significant discretion in the hands of forum Presidents to drive the process which greatly varies the effects on access to justice among districts.

Keywords

access to justiceconsumer foraIndiaalternative dispute resolutionlegal empowerment
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , May 2015 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, School of Public and International Affairs, North Carolina State University. I want to thank everyone at the Law, Governance and Development Initiative at Azim Premji University for hosting me while in Bangalore and assisting with this project. Particular thanks are owed to Sudhir Krishnaswamy and Shishir Bail at Azim Premji for their kindness and invaluable help with my research. Thanks are also due to those in India associated with the consumer fora who were kind enough to permit me the time to interview them. I also want to thank the following graduate students at North Carolina State University who have given time to this work: Matthew Letterman, Shivanti Kaul, Kathryn Ferro, and Sandy Preiss. Lastly, I want to thank the School of Public and International Affairs at NCSU for providing funding for the research in India. Correspondence to: Dr Matthias Vanhullebusch, Assistant Professor, Managing Editor Asian Journal of Law and Society (CUP), KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Rd, Shanghai, 200030, China. E-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected].

References

APSCDRC (Andhra Pradesh State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission) (2014) “Statistical Info: District Forum,” online <http://scdrc.ap.nic.in/> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
Basu, Srimati (2012) “Judges of Normality: Mediating Marriage in the Family Courts of Kolkata, India.” 37 Journal of Women in Culture and Society 469–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baxi, Pratiksha (2008) “Access to Justice and the Rule of (Good) Law.” 2 Indian Journal of Human Development 279–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloomberg (2014) “US Dollar-Indian Rupee Exchange Rate,” online <http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/USDINR:CUR> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
Census of India (2011) “District Profile,” online <http://censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/Basic_Data_Sheet.aspx> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
Eisenberg, Theodore, Kalantry, Sital& Robinson, Nick (2013) “Litigation as a Measure of Well-Being.” 62 DePaul Law Review 247–292.Google Scholar
Galanter, Marc (2009) “India’s Tort Deficit: Sketch for a Historical Portrait,” in D.M. Engel & M. McCann, eds., Fault Lines: Tort Law as Cultural Practice, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 47–65.Google Scholar
Galanter, Marc, & Krishnan, Jayanth K. (2003) “Debased Informalism: Lok Adalats and Legal Rights in Modern India,” in E.G. Jensen & T.C. Heller, eds., Beyond Common Knowledge: Empirical Approaches to the Rule of Law, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 96–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galanter, Marc, & Krishnan, Jayanth K. (2004) “Bread for the Poor: Access to Justice and the Rights of the Needy in India.” 55 Hastings Law Journal 789–34.Google Scholar
Guruswamy, Menaka, & Singh, Aditya (2010) “Village Courts in India: Unconstitutional Forums with Unjust Outcomes.” 3 Journal of Asian Public Policy 281–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazra, Arnab Kumar, & Micevska, Maja B. (2007) “The Problem of Court Congestion: Evidence from Indian Lower Courts,” in A.K. Hazra & B. Debroy, eds., Judicial Reforms in India: Issues and Aspects, New Delhi: Academic Foundation, 137–156.Google Scholar
Krishnan, Jayanth K., Kavadi, Shirish N.Girach, AzimaKhupkar, DhanajiKokal, Kalindi, Satyajeet Mazumdar, Nupur, Gayatri Panday, Aatreyee Sen, Aqseer Sodhi, & Bharati Takale Shukla (2014) “Grappling at the Grassroots: Litigant Efforts to Access Economic and Social Rights in India.” 27 Harvard Human Rights Journal 151–89.Google Scholar
KSCDRC (Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission) (2014a) “Proforma I-VIII April 2014,” online <http://kscdrc.kar.nic.in/stat.htm> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
KSCDRC (2014b) “State Glance April 2014,” online <http://kscdrc.kar.nic.in/stat.htm> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (2005) “India’s Judiciary,” in D. Kapur & P.B. Mehta, eds., Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 158–194.Google Scholar
Meschievitz, Catherine S., & Galanter, Marc (1982) “In Search of the Nyaya Panchayats: The Politics of a Moribund Institution,” in R.L. Abel, ed., The Politics of Informal Justice, New York: Academic Press, 47–77.Google Scholar
Moog, Robert (1992) “Delays in Indian Courts: Why the Judges Don’t Take Control.” 16 Justice System Journal 19–36.Google Scholar
Moog, Robert (1997) Whose Interests Are Supreme? Organizational Politics in the Civil Courts in India, Ann Arbor: Association of Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Moog, Robert (2003) “Democratization of Justice: The Indian Experiment with Consumer Forums,” in E.G. Jensen & T.C. Heller, eds., Beyond Common Knowledge: Empirical Approaches to the Rule of Law, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 142–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nariman, Fali S. (2006) India’s Legal System: Can It Be Saved?, New Delhi: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
NCDRC (National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission) (2005) “Consumer Protection Regulations,” online <http://ncdrc.nic.in/> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
NCDRC (2009) “Minutes of the Conference of Presidents of State Commissions and Secretaries In-Charge of Consumer Affairs in the State/UT Governments—March 14–15,” online <http://ncdrc.nic.in/> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
NCDRC (2012) “Resolutions Adopted in the Conference of Hon’ble Ministers along with the Secretaries, Consumer Affairs of States/UTs, and Presidents of State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions—March 15,” online <http://ncdrc.nic.in/> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
NCDRC (2014a) “General Information-Statistics,” online <http://ncdrc.nic.in/> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
NCDRC (2014b) “Judgements,” online <http://ncdrc.nic.in/> (last accessed 18 January 2015).+(last+accessed+18+January+2015).>Google Scholar
Raghavan, B.S. (2011) “Consumer Protection Proving a Myth,” Business Line, 20 August.Google Scholar
Robinson, Nick (2013) “A Quantitative Analysis of the Indian Supreme Court’s Workload.” 10 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 570–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar