Consumer Court justice is delayed.

In an attempt to protect consumers' rights, the government is stepping up its attempts to establish consumer courts in Nepal for the first time as the holiday season draws near—a period when people are most likely to be taken advantage of.

Nearly two and a half years have passed since the Supreme Court gave the government the order to set up consumer courts in every province in order to expedite the administration of justice.

A consumer court would be established within a month, according to Industry, Commerce, and Supplies Minister Damodar Bhandari, during a Sunday conversation at the Nepali Congress's central supply and consumer department.

"The consumer court's existence will significantly affect the management of food adulteration, artificial scarcity, and price manipulation."

However, proponents of consumer rights are still skeptical and write it off as just another grandiose promise.

Even if they pay for them, consumers still have trouble getting financial, phone, electricity, and water services.

Furthermore, as Nepal's e-commerce expands, consumer fraud cases are occurring more frequently than before.

The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Nepal's watchdog for quality control, brought 178 complaints against producers and traders in district administration offices for manufacturing and distributing inferior food products and animal feed during the most recent fiscal year. In the preceding fiscal year, there were 121 cases.

Consumer rights advocates claim that only a small number of cases are handled by district administrations that provide justice.

Lawmakers criticized party politics during the conversation for shielding wrongdoers.

They said that top officials get calls to defend certain firms or shops whenever teams doing market inspections raid them.

The budget for May 28th revealed the required funding to establish consumer courts.

According to a representative of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies, the government has set aside Rs. 10 million for administrative costs related to setting up a minimum of one consumer court in each of the Kathmandu Valley's districts.

Nevertheless, establishing consumer courts costs a significant amounts of money.

Officials intend to hire a different space at a district administration office to set up the court as a temporary remedy to comply with the Supreme Court's order. The court will then start hearing cases.

Consumer rights advocates asserted that it is not feasible to establish a court in less than a month.

"I was present at the event when Industry Minister Bhandari spoke. The National Consumers Forum president, Prem Lal Maharjan, said, "We cheered, and the function ended.

"This is one of the most obvious instances of promises being made and then broken."

Maharjan declared, "A consumer court housed inside a district administrative office, with a small budget and few judges, is a joke."

The establishment of consumer courts with independent infrastructure in each of the 77 districts was mandated by the highest court.

The Law Ministry received the Industry Ministry's draft report on creating a consumer court in mid-June, and the Judicial Council was asked to provide comments.

The Judicial Council's spokesperson, Ashok Kumar Chhetri, claimed not to be aware of the development.

"I am not aware of the draft concerning the establishment of consumer courts."

A section of the 2018 Consumer Protection Act mandates that consumer courts be established by the government.

In September 2019, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies sent a draft bill to the Ministry of Law based on this clause.

In the face of persistent instances of unfair market practices, the Supreme Court ordered the government to establish consumer courts in every province on February 20, 2022, as the process continued to drag on.

The decision was made by a division bench of Justices Bam Kumar Shrestha and Nahakul Subedi in response to a court motion filed by the Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights Nepal.

Although the draft reached the Ministry of Law and then the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies, the process has been delayed due to frequent changes in government.

According to an official update on the development, the Ministry of Industry cancelled the previous process last year and started afresh by forming a committee.

Given the state of the nation and the resources at hand, the committee suggested establishing a pilot consumer court in a suitable part of the Kathmandu Valley, either in consultation with or on the advise of the Judicial Council, the official stated.

Based on financial resources, officials plan to progressively establish other consumer courts in other districts.

According to a representative of the Industry Ministry, they realized it would not be feasible to establish one consumer court per province because litigants would need to travel great distances for their cases. As a result, the document suggests establishing consumer courts in each district one at a time.

A consumer court is a type of specialized court that focuses on resolving conflicts, disputes, and grievances involving consumers. Hearings are held by the court to decide these matters.

 The public has long called for the establishment of a consumer court to quickly and expeditiously bring dishonest traders under the legal system.

Observers feel that this has empowered dishonest dealers because customers frequently reluctant to become involved in complicated legal battles.

They think that when consumer courts are set up, it will be simpler to file complaints and there won't be as many complications.