2.9. Regulatory Authorities: Consumer Redress

A redressal mechanism is an essential component of the competition legislation of any country. In India too, the MRTPA (Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act) has inbuilt grievance redressal provisions. However, over the years, because of factors like inadequate budgetary allocation and lack of autonomy the MRTPC (the predecessor of CCI governed by MRTPA) has not been very effective in providing redress and consequently pending cases have kept piling up. The CCI is expected to serve consumers better in terms of redress. In addition to the above, some sector regulators such as telecom, electricity and insurance also have redressal mechanisms: generic complaint redress by TRAI, telephone adalats (courts), grievance redressal mechanisms of State Electricity Commissions, the consumer grievance redress cell of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), insurance ombudsman, banking ombudsman etc.