HARIPUR, Oct 9: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan has said that the provincial judiciary has been making efforts to ensure provision of quality consumer goods and items in accordance with prescribed standards.He was speaking to lawyers after inauguration of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's first consumer court here on Saturday.

The PHC chief justice said that progress of nations depended on the welfare of individuals who were entitled to get their complaints addressed about consumer products and services. He said that supply of quality products and protection of consumer rights was the duty of food department and price review committees. However, negligence on the part of food department had necessitated the establishment of consumer court in Haripur under the Consumer Protection Act 1997, he said.

He said that the establishment of first consumer court in Haripur was part of the initiatives that the provincial judiciary was taking for provision of speedy justice to the people.

The chief justice said that a district judge would head the consumer court, which would be empowered to protect the rights of consumers and order action on consumers' complaints accordingly.

He said that consumers had the right to file complaints relating to quality of products, their rates, display of rate list, issuance of receipts and services besides any kind of cheating by manufacturers and sellers.

The chief justice said that the consumer court had been directed to avoid formalities for providing relief to consumers and complaints could be filed on a plain paper. He said that a consumer protection council/authority would also be set up soon to ensure maximum relief to consumers. He said that the provincial government would appoint its chairman and members.

The PHC chief justice said that the process of purging the judiciary of corruption was underway and some bold steps had been taken in this regard. He assured the participants that appointments of judges in lower judiciary would be made on merit.

About police department, he said that appointments made in violation of merit had always affected court cases and proved detrimental to the dispensation of justice.

He called for fair treatment with prisoners and practical steps for their reformation and reintegration into society as useful citizens.

District Judge Shaiber Khan and district bar association president Sardar Abdul Rauf also spoke on the occasion. Earlier, the chief justice formally inaugurated the consumer court on the premises of district & session court, Haripur.