Mounting vacancies, sharp rise in pending cases and non-transparency in terms of case disposals have significantly weakened India’s consumer grievance redressal mechanism, finds Consumer Justice Report 2026 released in Delhi on Wednesday (March 18, 2026).

Released by the India Justice Report (IJR) with an aim to assesscapacity of redressal commissions in India, this first of its kind report mainly relied on data from public platforms, websites of redressal commissions, Right to Information (RTI) replies, and Parliament responses collected between 2020 and 2024. It finds that Indian consumers remain most aggrieved about insurance, housing and banking.

Former Supreme Court judge Justice S.K. Kaul, who released the report, said the vacancy crisis and backlog are eroding public confidence. He cautioned that failure to operationalise legislative intent defeats the purpose of law.

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