Consumer Forum chiefs denied their rights

Consumer Forum chiefs denied their rights
MEETA BHATTI

August 15: How long can someone work painstakingly without being paid? A month, two months, three? When on the receiving end is a judge, he does what a commoner can't -- knock at the doors of bureaucrats and write legally right notes. What next? The three presidents appointed to the District Consumer Forums from June 1 this year and working without salaries for the last two months, have no idea.

When the long-pending vacancies for members and presidents of the Consumer Forums were filled after clearance from the Bombay High Court, three presidents were appointed to the District Forums in the state -- the South Mumbai Consumer Dispute Redressals Forum, Dadar Consumer Forum and Pune Consumer Forum. These presidents are retired judicial officers of the rank of District Judge or Additional District Judge.

``When a retired judge is appointed to another judgelike post, the government is required to fix a salary so that he continues to get at least the same benefits as before,'' says A V Karnik, president, South Mumbai Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum.

The salaries of the three presidents have not been fixed yet, but they have not even been paid any ad-hoc salaries (that, according to insiders, range between Rs 19,000 and Rs 20,000).

Karnik wrote to the secretary (food, civil supplies and consumer protection department) A R Dalwai on June 16 asking him why he was not being paid the salary he was getting as chairman of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal till May 31. Till date, he has not got a reply. While Dadar Forum president K Kalmankar has not given a written complaint, Raghunath Patil of the Pune Consumer Forum has spoken to the ``people concerned.'' However, both refused to comment on the matter.

Karnik, though, is determined to seek justice. He quotes from an observation made by the division bench of Bombay High Court in the case of Krishna Chandra v/s Sind Hyderabad National Collegiate Board, while considering a similar issue. ``The observation, in as many words, states that the salary and other conditions of service will have to be rational enough to keep the officer free from worry to enable him to devote his wholehearted attention to the work in hand, in accordance with the spirit of the law laid down by the Supreme Court.''

The High Court had further observed: ``Where a person is appointed from the ranks of the judicial officers, his salary and other service conditions should be protected and he should be entitled to salary and other conditions of service as may be modified from time to time for the category to which he belongs. Where the judicial officer appointed is a person who has held such office in the past, his salary and other conditions of service should at least be such as he was enjoying before he ceased to be such officer.''

Fixation of the salary in such cases is not a perplexing job. It is simply the last pay drawn minus the judge's pension after retirement. Yet the newly appointed presidents have not received a singly rupee since their appointment.

Though secretary (food, civil supplies and consumer protection) A R Dalwai was unavailable for comment, the under-secretary B A Pande confirmed having received the written complaints and said they were being looked into.

``Why should a judge appointed to mete out justice and uphold rights of consumers himself be subjected to injustice and denied his rightful dues?'' asked Karnik. It is learnt that the presidents of the consumer forums are contemplating sending in their resignations.