 bill no  99 of  2016 the consumer protection (amendment) bill, 2016 byshri dushyant chautala, mpa billfurther to amend the consumer protection act, 1986be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the consumer protection (amendment) act, 2016short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification68 of 1986amendment of section 162 in section 16 of the consumer protection act, 1986 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), in sub-section (1), in clause (a), for the words "is, or has been a judge of a high court", the words "is a judge of a high court or an advocate for at least ten years in a high court or of two or more such courts in succession," shall be substituted statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe concept of separation of powers was proposed by montesquieu in the sixteenth century and the concept of equal opportunity has been highlighted by the framers of the constitution through various provisions these two ideas are required to be incorporated in the consumer protection act, 1986 which provides inter alia for better protection of the interests of consumers and for that purpose to make provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumer disputes and for matters connected therewiththe executive, the legislature and the judiciary are known as the three pillars of democrary it is expected that the three should function independently without major intervention of each other and that would ensure that the respective duties are discharged in the best possible manner however, at the same time, there should be sufficient check and balances on these three wings so as to avoid any one of them from becoming totalitarian in nature in india, the checks and balances system has been working effectively however, it has come to notice that some of the tribunals and commissions have exclusive provisions where only retired judges of the supreme court or the high courts are being appointed by the executives this lies absolutely against the spirit of constitutiontherefore the amendment seeks to remove the provision for appointment of retired judges as the chairperson and members thus only a sitting judge of the supreme court or a high court, as the case may be, can be appointed to this post if that judge wishes to leave his office of judge voluntary and assents to join tribunal or commissionthe bill also proposes to insert wherein an advocate with not less than ten years of practice becomes eligible to be appointed as the chairperson of the tribunal the rational of such could be found in our constitution which provides for appointment of advocates with certain years of practice as judge of the supreme court or a high court the same should be applied for tribunals this will facilitate the speedy disposal of the cases pending in tribunals because the positions in the tribunals shall not remain vacant for long this also captures the idea of providing equal opportunity to people with equal experience and eligibilitythe proposed amendment seeks to ensure that the doctrine of checks and balances and right to equality is maintained annexure extract from the consumer protection act, 1986      16 (1) each state commission shall consist of—composition of the state commission(a) a person who is or has been a judge of a high court, appointed by the state government, who shall be its president:provided that no appointment under this clause shall be made except after consultation with the chief justice of the high court;       20 (1) the national commission shall consist of—composition of the national commission(a) a person who is or has been a judge of the supreme court, to be appointed by the central government, who shall be its president:provided that no appointment under this clause shall be made except after consultation with the chief justice of india;       ———— a billfurther to amend the consumer protection act, 1986————(shri dushyant chautala, mp)gmgipmrnd—35ls(s3)—25042016