Consumer awareness about their rights and Grievance Redressal Mechanism: An Empirical Study

Consumer rights awareness is vital to the society and a way to eliminate malpractices by the manufacturer, producers and marketers. The consumer courts conduct grievance handling and strive for a transparent method such that essential commodities and services reach the consumers and keep the service providers as well as manufacturers, marketers at a bay. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 makes provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumer disputes and for matters connected therewith. The present study was conducted to study the consumer awareness about their Rights, Consumer Protection Act and Grievance Redressal Mechanism. The population for the first objective consisted of all the consumers of the Ludhiana city. A sample of 100 consumers was selected on convenience sampling basis. The study revealed that majority of the consumers are aware about the consumer protection act, consumer rights, responsibilities and grievance redressal mechanism. It was seen that most consumers are exploited by the retailer and service provider and many of them seek redressal. Still, there is need to educate the consumer about his rights.