gama.gov.in Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements : Department of Consumer Affairs

Organization : Department of Consumer Affairs
Service Name : GAMA Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements
Applicable State/UT: All India

Website : http://gama.gov.in/Default.aspx
Register Complaint : http://gama.gov.in/Secure/Login.aspx

Grievances Against Misleading Advertisement

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) is one of the two Departments under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.

Related : Department of Consumer Affairs Consumer Welfare Fund : www.statusin.in/20192.html

The mandate of the Department is consumer advocacy. In its endeavour to address the problem of misleading advertisements, the Department of Consumer Affairs has launched this portal for registering online complaints for Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA).

Tackling Unfair Trade Practices and Misleading Advertisements requires mobilization of all agencies viz. State Governments, Voluntary Consumer Organizations (VCOs), Grahak Suvidha Kendras, Advertisement Standards Council of India (ASCI), Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) and various Regulators of the Central Government.

The focus will be on Six Key Sectors viz. Food & Agriculture, Health, Education, Real Estate, Transport and Financial Services. Regulators for each of these sectors will be key partners in the success of the effort to prevent the problem.

Consumer Grivences :
Do you have grivence or dispute?

How to approach district consumer Forum :
The complaint can be made on plain paper and you can file it in person or through an authorised agent, after it has been notarised, through registered post or regular post. It is important that you serve a personal or legal notice to the opposite party before filing the complaint.

You will need to file four copies, plus additional copies for each opposite party. And the complaint must be filed within two years from the date of the cause of action having arisen. The court fee for cases involving up to Rs 1 lakh is nil for those holding Antyodaya Anna Yojana cards and Rs 100 for the rest. For cases involving up to Rs 5 lakh the case fee is Rs 200, for case up to Rs 10 lakh the court fee is Rs 400 and for those up to Rs 20 lakh the case fee is Rs 500. The demand draft should be made out to the President, Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, (name of) district.

How to approach state consumer Forum :
Cases where the value of goods or services exceeds Rs 20 lakh can be filed and orders of the district forum challenged here within 30 days of the order being passed.

The court fee for cases above Rs 20 lakh and up to Rs 50 lakh is Rs 2,000 while the court fee for cases up to Rs 1 crore is Rs 4,000. The demand draft should be made in favour of the registrar, (name of) state commission and be payable in that state only.

To file an appeal you need the following :
(a) Documents of record with correct name of all parties and their addresses;
(b) Certified copy of the district forum order;
(c) More than four additional copies for each respondent for filing an appeal;
(d) Any conditional delay, interim orders and other petitions to be submitted along with an affidavit; and
(e) A statutory deposit of Rs 25,000 or 50 per cent of the award / compensation amount, whichever is less, is to be made by the appellant / opposite parties.

How to approach National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission :
A dissatisfied consumer can file a complaint directly with the national commission or appeal against decisions of the state commission within a month from the date of the order. The court fee is Rs 5,000 and the demand draft should be in the name of The Registrar, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. There is no fee for filing an appeal before the state or national commission. You can appeal against the orders of the national commission in the Supreme Court within a period of 30 days.

Disclaimer :
This website has been launched by the Department of Consumer Affairs to create awareness about misleading advertisements and serve as a central registry for lodging complaints against misleading advertisements. Though all efforts will be made to address these complaints, all complaints may not be fully or satisfactorily resolved. 2. Contents of links to sites outside this web portal, are not the responcibility of the Department. 3. All rights are reserved. 4. No part of this web portal, can be reproduced / copied without the prior approval of the Department of Consumer Affairs.