The Union Government is considering putting in place a mechanism to stop misleading advertisements in order to protect consumers from being cheated, the Food and Consumer Affairs Minister, Mr K.V. Thomas, said today .
Mr Thomas said the Ministry would set up an expert committee for suggesting ways and means to curb misleading ads. “Everyday I get a number of complaints of consumers being cheated. Now in the last two days in Kochi, my constituency, there is a complaint against a building company... A large number of people have registered complaints that they have been cheated.
“Similar cases are also coming from infra, banking and other sectors. So we have to find out a mechanism for that,” Mr Thomas told reporters here after visiting the National Consumer Helpline Centre at the Delhi School of Economics.
The Minister said he held discussions with ministry officials and some non-profit organisations regarding misguiding advertisements.
“We will think about some kind of mechanism by which correct information goes to the consumer. I am going to discuss with the Advertising Standards Council of India and other agencies,” he said, adding that after discussions, “We will constitute a committee that will look into these issues.”
Mr Thomas pointed out that in every sector like medicine, banking, telecom and infrastructure, consumers are misguided.
On the consumer helpline (a public service project of Delhi University), he said the government wants to strengthen the organisation and has asked for specific proposals for this purpose.
In a presentation before the Minister, the National Consumer Helpline Principal Investigator, Mr Sriram Khanna, demanded more funds for publicity and improvement in infrastructure like more workstations and telephone lines.