Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, came into force from July 20, 2020. As provided in section 10 of the Act, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has been established with effect from July 24, 2020.
For operationalisation of the CCPA, Additional Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs Nidhi Khare has been assigned the charge of Chief Commissioner; Joint Secretary in the Department Anupam Mishra as Commissioner; Director General, BIS, Pramod K Tiwari as Director General (Investigation), and Director General, National Test House, Vineet Mathur as Additional Director General (Investigation) in the Central Consumer Protection Authority with effect from July 29, 2020, to exercise the powers and discharge the functions under the Act.
Meanwhile, the CCPA will start functioning from the premises of IIPA. The support staff is being arranged from the Centre for Consumer Studies of The Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) and the National Consumer Helpline, which have been financially aided by the Department since 2007.
The objective of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class. It will be empowered to conduct investigations into violation of consumer rights and institute complaints / prosecution, order recall of unsafe goods and services, order discontinuation of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements, impose penalties on manufacturers/endorsers/publishers of misleading advertisements, according to a PIB release.