Recently, the Central Government has announced that the government will be setting up an online platform for resolving consumer complaints. This platform will not only consist of companies, service providers and consumers but will also have panels of experts who can be roped in and tapped for faster resolution.
What do we understand by Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)?
Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) is a fast-evolving mechanism, which provides a platform for facilitating the resolution of conflicts, using digital technology and ADR mechanisms involving a blend of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
What is the National Consumer Helpline (NCH)? How does it work?
National Consumer Helpline is a project of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, being executed by the Centre for Consumer Studies, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi.
National Consumer Helpline helps and supports consumers by guiding them consumers in finding adequate and feasible solutions to their problems related to products and services through a call centre and its portal.
Once the complaints are registered, the NCH then proceeds by sharing the requisite complaints with the particular Convergence Partners, Sellers, Entities or E-Commerce for their resolution.
The functions of the National Consumer Helpline are as follows:
- Providing information related to Companies and Regulatory Authorities;
- Facilitating consumers in filing grievances against the defaulting Service Providers;
- Empowering consumers to use the available Consumer Grievances Redressal Mechanisms; and/or
- Educating Consumers about their Rights and Responsibilities.
How will the Online Dispute Resolution benefit the consumers?
The Online Dispute Resolution process as a mechanism, will operate as an intermediary between the consumers and commissions or the courts, to help the redressal become time and cost-efficient.
Online Dispute Resolution will help in resolving the disputes from the consumer’s home and the procedure for filing the same will be online, which would eventually benefit the consumers to get their disputes resolved hassle-free without facing any difficulties.
The primary benefit of this mechanism, once brought in place, would be that it will provide the consumers with a unified portal at their disposal, to enhance consumer protection and fast-track the e-dispute resolution by facilitating a direct engagement between the consumers and the experts by the consumers’ data type, nature of requests, which would be filtered basis on the state, city and district and the languages which they speak.
What will be the statutory relevance of the ODR Mechanism?
The ODR mechanism will function as an intermediary which will aim to help provide the consumers with relatively easier and faster access to redressal of their complaints.
This mechanism also draws similarity to Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, in terms of the objective that the provision endeavours to achieve, by making it mandatory for the concerned parties to necessarily enter into mediation before approaching the court, unless the court is of the contrary opinion upon entertaining an application to that effect, in the interest of justice.
Hence, the ODR mechanism would also be functioning similarly to help the consumers get their issues resolved, without requiring them to approach the commission or for that matter, the Court directly, thereby reducing the burden of both the courts and the consumers.
However, it is imperative that for the ODR Mechanism to benefit the concerned entities/ consumers, a timeline should be mandated otherwise the essence of these redressal methods will lose its importance.
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