How many times have you spent good money on a latest gizmo, only to find that it is riddled with faults? Now a book, seeking to give power to consumers by educating them about consumer rights, has hit the stands. Written by Rajyalakshmi Rao, former member of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and Nabankar Gupta, founder CEO, Nobby Brand Architects & Strategic Marketing Consultants, the book - Consumer Rights and You - was launched on Tuesday at Worli.
Union minister Ashwani Kumar and justice MB Shah inaugurated the release.
MB Shah said, “Misleading advertisements are one of the major causes of consumer exploitation. There should not be marketing of products hazardous to health and property. Even genetically modified products should contain information about purity. Consumers find it difficult to get relief from the consumer forum, since it has a lot of pending cases. But nearly 70 percent of the cases in the forum do get sorted.”
The book is the common man’s guide to consumer rights, and the authors have explained the Consumer Protection Act through cases actually decided by consumer fora. The book deals with complaints in sectors such as insurance, medical, housing, banking, education and public utilities; it provides consumers with the know-how to effectively respond to defective goods, deficient services and unfair trade practices.
Author Rajyalakshmi Rao said, “Based on my 18-year old tenure at the consumer courts, we have highlighted cases from various sectors using simple language, with illustrations for greater clarification and visual relief. We hope to help consumers understand how the law favours them, giving examples from landmark judgments.”
