Cabinet clears new consumer protection bill

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new Consumer Protection Bill that seeks to give more teeth to the mechanism to safeguard consumer rights.

The Bill, expected to be tabled in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session, also has provisions to deal with misleading advertisements and ban celebrities from endorsing such products.

In August 2015, the Centre had introduced the Consumer Protection Bill in the Lok Sabha to repeal the 30-year-old Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

A parliamentary standing committee had also submitted its recommendations in April 2016.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has brought a fresh bill as there were many amendments to the Bill introduced in 2015.

The new Bill seeks to enlarge the scope of the existing law and make it more effective and purposeful.

It seeks to establish a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce consumer rights.

It has provisions for post-litigation stage mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism. The Bill also provides for product liability action.

The Cabinet also approved the Railways' plan to set up the first National Rail and Transport University in Vadodara.

The university will be set up as a deemed to be university as per the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities ) Regulations, 2016.

The government is working towards completing all approvals by April 2018 and to launch the first academic program in July 2018.

Existing land and infrastructure at National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) at Vadodara will be utilised, suitably modified and modernised for the purpose of the university.

The full strength of the university is expected to be 3,000 students.