As the festive season approaches—a time when consumers are mercilessly exploited—the government is doubling down on its efforts to set up consumer courts for the first time in Nepal, aiming to safeguard consumer rights.

It has been nearly two and a half years since the Supreme Court ordered the government to establish consumer courts in all provinces to speed up justice delivery.

On Sunday, Industry, Commerce and Supplies Minister Damodar Bhandari told an interaction at the central supply and consumer department of the Nepali Congress that a consumer court would be established within a month.

“The presence of the consumer court will have a significant impact on controlling food adulteration, artificial shortage and price manipulation.”

But consumer rights activists remain sceptical and dismiss it as yet another lofty promise.

Consumers face difficulty accessing water, energy, telecoms and financial services, despite paying for them.

Besides, as Nepal’s e-commerce grows, now more than ever, instances of consumers fraud are becoming more prevalent.

Nepal’s quality control watchdog, the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, filed 178 cases in district administration offices against producers and traders for producing and selling substandard food items and animal feed in the last fiscal year. There were 121 cases in the previous fiscal year.

Consumer rights activists say the district administrations deliver justice in only a handful of cases.

Speaking at the interaction, lawmakers criticised party politics for protecting wrongdoers.

They said that whenever market inspection teams raid certain shops or factories, top officials receive phone calls to protect those businesses.

On May 28, the budget announced the allocation of necessary funds to set up consumer courts.

An official at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said that the government allocated a budget of Rs10 million for administrative expenses to establish at least one consumer court in one of the districts in Kathmandu Valley.

However, setting up consumer courts requires a considerable amount of money.

As a temporary measure to comply with the Supreme Court’s order, officials plan to rent a separate room in a district administration office to set up the court, which will then begin hearing cases.

Consumer rights activists said that forming a court within a month is impossible.

“I attended the function when the industry minister Bhandari delivered his speech. We applauded, and the function concluded,” said Prem Lal Maharjan, president of the National Consumers Forum.

“This is one of the glaring examples of how promises are made and not delivered.”

“A consumer court inside a district administrative office, with a limited budget and few judges, is a joke,” said Maharjan.

The top court had ordered the setting up of consumer courts in all 77 districts with separate infrastructure.

In mid-June, the Industry Ministry's draft report on establishing a consumer court was submitted to the Law Ministry and sent to the Judicial Council for its suggestions.

However, Ashok Kumar Chhetri, spokesperson for the Judicial Council, said he was unaware of the development.

“The draft regarding the formation of consumer courts has not come to my notice.”

The Consumer Protection Act, 2018, has a provision requiring the government to establish consumer courts.

Based on this provision, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies submitted a draft of legislation to the Ministry of Law in September 2019.

As the process dragged on, the Supreme Court, on February 20, 2022, ordered the government to establish consumer courts in all provinces to protect buyers' interests amid repeated instances of unfair market practices.

A division bench of justices Bam Kumar Shrestha and Nahakul Subedi issued the order after the Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights Nepal moved the court.

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.

The committee recommended setting up a pilot consumer court in a suitable location within the Kathmandu Valley, in coordination with or on the advice of the Judicial Council, considering the country's current condition and available resources, the official said.

According to officials, more consumer courts will be gradually established in other districts based on financial resources.

The Industry Ministry official said they realised that setting up just one consumer court per province would not be practical, as people would have to travel long distances for their cases. Therefore, the draft proposes gradually setting up consumer courts in all districts.

A consumer court is a specialised court which primarily deals with consumer-related disputes, conflicts, and grievances. The court holds hearings to adjudicate these issues.

The public has long been demanding a consumer court to bring unscrupulous traders under a legal framework within a fast-track system.

Since consumers often hesitate to get involved in complex court cases, observers believe this has emboldened dishonest traders.

They believe that once consumer courts are established, filing complaints will become easier, and the process will involve fewer hassles.