21/04/2020
Consumer Protection Laws gives protection to consumers against the marketing of products which are harmful to life and property.
DIFFERENCE:::
Consumer Protection COUNCIL is a non-government organisation, spreading awareness among common people and help them to file cases in the court and get justice for the consumers. They represent individuals in the consumer courts.
Consumer COURTS are government organizations that provide redressal for consumer grievances by passing orders which are enforceable by law. Consumer court is established at district, state and national level.
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The idea of consumer protection laws was firstly adopted in Pakistan by the Federal Government in 1995 when The Islamabad Consumer Protection Act, 1995 was passed. Later on The Provincial Governments followed this pattern and the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa passed The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Consumer Protection Act, 1997. The provincial assembly of Baluchistan passed The Balochistan Consumer Protection Act, 2003, the provincial assembly of Punjab passed The Punjab Consumers Protection Act, 2005 and provincial assembly of Sindh passed a Consumer Protection Bill in 2015 to protect the rights of consumers.
Six consumer courts have been set up in Karachi’s as many districts — East, West, Central, South, Korangi and Malir — since the city had the largest consumer base and head offices of local as well as multinational companies and firm.
17 Consumer courts have been set up in Punjab including , Bhawulnagar, Bhawulpur, Bhakkar, DG Khan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Lahore, Layyah, Mandi Bahauddin,Mianwali, Multan, Rahim yar khan, Rawalpindi, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Sialkot.
In Baluchistan only Consumer Protection Council works for Consumer rights.Still magistrate is the authority to check quality and control the prices of goods and services.
The KPK government has extended the jurisdiction of the consumer courts to the tribal districts of the province. Consumer Protection Court, Peshawar’s Jurisdiction has been extended to district Khyber, Consumer Protection Court in Charsadda has has been extended to District Mohmand, Consumer Protection Court, Malakand ‘s Jurisdiction has been extended to Bajaur, Consumer Protection Court, Kohat’s Jurisdiction has been extended to districts Kurram and Orakzai, Consumer Protection Court, Bannu’s jurisdiction has been extended to North Waziristan and Consumer Protection Court, Tank’s jurisdiction has been extended to district South Waziristan.
B4 The Court.