Mumbai Grahak Panchayat sets up conciliation forum for consumer plaints

Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP) has set up its own conciliation and mediation centre, SAMET (amicable resolution), for consumer complaints. To be available both offline and online, the system proclaims to offer speedy, affordable, and amicable settlement of disputes. It will be functional within a fortnight, said Advocate Shirish Deshpande, MGP’s chairman, adding that the city-based consumer association has partnered with Jupitice to launch it.

Deshpande said lakh of cases are pending in consumer courts across the country and many of them sometimes take 20-25 years to settle. Through the conciliation and mediation centre, the disputed parties can reach a settlement, saving both time and money. “Many a time, the complainants have a small dispute; however, the cost and time involved is much more. Therefore, they do not approach courts, which further encourages unfair trade practices. This will stop with the conciliation forum in place,” he said.

Meanwhile, MGP has partnered with Jupitice Justice Technologies for technical support. Deshpande asserted that in the next 15 days the online platform will also be available and will make the system all the more easy to access.

The time period for conciliation will be 60-90 days, comprising two to three hearings. When asked if the forum is on the lines of MahaRERA, Deshpande said, “In MahaRERA, the conciliation is only restricted to settle a dispute between the buyer and the seller related to housing, but here the complaints can be of any kind.”

Raman Aggarwal, the founder and CEO of Jupitice Justice Technologies said, “The entire team of Jupitice is delighted to extend its technology support to MGP for its exclusive platform. With this collaboration, Jupitice would be a step closer to fulfilling its vision of ‘access to justice’ for all. This collaboration will also enable us to take services to consumers, which are among the key target audience of our platform.”