Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Consumer Court is set to begin operations from next week.
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya, while tabling the notification regarding the formation of the Consumer Court in the meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, announced that the court will start functioning from March 15.
The government established the consumer court as per the Consumer Protection Act, 2018. The court will have the jurisdiction to handle and settle consumer-related cases within Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur districts.
Ramprasad Sharma, district judge at the Kathmandu District Court, has been appointed as the chairperson of the Court. Similarly, Gehendra Raj Regmi, a gazetted second-class officer from the Judicial Service and Anand Raj Pokharel, a gazetted second-class officer from the General Administration Service, have been appointed as members.
The Court is starting its operation 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) of the constitution 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 as per the law. However, the delay in the establishment of the Consumer Court was preventing people from exercising their fundamental rights.
Section 41 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2018, empowers the government to form a consumer court to safeguard 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.
