Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The government has decided to establish a consumer court in the Kathmandu Valley to address consumer-related issues.
Government spokesperson and Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Prithvi Subba Gurung, shared this information while making public the decisions taken by the cabinet meeting held on Monday.
According to Gurung, the cabinet decided to form a consumer court with jurisdiction over consumer-related cases within Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur districts.
This move comes six years after the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act. The Act was introduced in 2018 to implement the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 44 of the Constitution. Article 44 (1) states that every consumer shall have the right to obtain quality goods and services, while Article 44 (2) states that a person who has suffered injury from any substandard goods or services shall have the right to obtain compensation in accordance with the law. However, the delay in the establishment of the Consumer Court was preventing citizens from fully exercising their fundamental rights.
Section 41 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2018, empowers the government to form a consumer court to protect consumer rights.
The government had formed a committee in August to identify potential locations for the court, estimate costs required to set up the court and assess the types of cases it would handle. The committee submitted its report to the government in about a month.
The committee recommended establishing a consumer court within the Kathmandu Valley, covering Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts.
