The consumer commission’s website is causing significant stress to both consumers and advocates, as it has not been functional for the past 40-50 days. Due to the website’s non-performance, it has not only affected consumers but also disrupted the entire system — from the national commission to the district commissions. This issue will likely result in a growing backlog of cases.

Naresh Dalal (name changed on request) said that he needed to make amendments to his application, as one of the respondents was deceased and he had to update the application accordingly. However, he was unable to do so because the ‘Confonet.in’ website is non-functional. “When I approached the commission with my plea, they were helpless, as they too couldn’t make changes in the system. This has resulted in repeated adjournments of the case. What is the purpose of the consumer commission if consumers themselves are being taken for a ride?”

Advocate Anand Patwardhan, the founder of the Consumer Courts Association, said that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) is responsible for this entire mess. “They initially said that the previous Confonet program was hacked, so they were trying to shift to new software named ‘E-Jagruti.’ However, I believe E-Jagruti is still on a trial basis, as it hasn’t fully integrated the data fed into the system. For instance, if I need to send a summons to the opposite party, but the respondent’s name is different, the summons isn’t issued to the unlisted respondent, leading to yet another adjournment. Even the registrar is helpless due to the lack of a functional system,” said Advocate Patwardhan.

When FPJ tried to contact the Registrar of the State Commission for a response, no reply was received.