Essay On Consumer Protection In Pakistan

After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, different Acts in vogue during the time of British India were adopted in the country. However, succeeding governments in Pakistan were too busy in handling some basic issues such as preparing a constitution for the young country and settling the newly arrived migrants from India, that they had little time for the consumers. In a country like Pakistan where even the basic rights of citizenship are frequently contested before the courts, consumer protection is rather a more problematic and neglected category. Later, military governments took over the reins of powers and consumers lost all voice through the absence of democratically elected assemblies. The result was that consumers and their rights were both neglected. Even where some laws were enacted, such as Islamabad Consumer Protection Act, 1995,

But unfortunately, in Pakistan, that is not the case. Consumer Organizations around the world are very active and governments, the judiciary and the print media have encouraged and supported their activities, but that is not the case in Pakistan due to which there are only 4 Consumer Protection Laws in Country whereas the Sindh Province yet has no Consumer Protection Law. The first Consumer Protection Law was prepared and approved by National Assembly in 1995, the Islamabad Consumer Protection Act, 1995. The NWFP established its Consumer Protection Law in 1997, followed by Baluchistan in 2003. In 2005, Punjab followed suit. Consumer courts were approved in 2006 and became functional in 2007. Consumer Protection Ordinance, Sindh, was prepared by a committee set up by the Governor of Sindh at that time and was prepared after examining and studying consumer laws in the region and was signed by the then Governor. Unfortunately it has never been presented to the Sindh Assembly for ratification and has