The Supreme Court has told the states today that it would impose costs of Rs 2 lakh for not filing status reports on infrastructure and vacancies in National and State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions within a week.
The Supreme Court delivered the rebuke while considering its suo motu case to deal with vacancies in Consumer Commissions across the country.
The Division Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.M. Sundresh warned the states that by (the) next time also, if states don’t file the status reports, the Court will impose Rs 2 lakh cost on all of them. “All the imposed costs will be recovered from the officers concerned.”
The court said that if the state government does not want the contempt notice, then they should adhere to the time limit for filing the status report. Amicus Curiae Gopal Sankarnarayan apprised the Court that he had not received reports from all the states.
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During the last hearing, the Court had reprimanded the state governments for not filing status reports and affidavits on vacancies within time and warned that it would summon the chief secretaries of the respective states. It is pertinent to note that on August 11, the Apex Court had directed that vacancies in State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions in all States and Union Territories should be filled up within a period of eight weeks.
Bihar has not submitted its response on infrastructure-related issues and Gujarat, Goa, Delhi, Rajasthan, Kerala, Punjab have not filed a response about the staff. The matter will be heard next on December 1, 2021.