The representation of women in state consumer dispute redressal commissions (SCDRCs) declined to 6 per cent between 2021 and 2025 and the presence of women presidents remained very low throughout the last five years, a study has revealed.
The findings released by the India Justice Report (IJR) analysed gender-wise details of presidents and/or members of 14 SCDRCs that shared data between 2021 and 2025.
IJR is a research organisation that assesses justice delivery systems in the country based on parliamentary questions and RTI responses.
“Women’s share among these SCDRCs declined from an average of 35 per cent in 2021 to 29 per cent in 2025. The lowest share reported was in 2024, at 23.2 per cent,” the report stated.
The presence of women presidents has remained very low throughout the last five years. All 11 SCDRCs that shared data on their presidents did not have a woman president in 2024 and 2025, barring Delhi. Only Delhi and Odisha reported having a woman president for at least two years during this period. Kerala has not had a woman president in the last five years.
“Most SCDRCs comply with the minimum statutory requirement of having one woman. Although the share of women presidents is negligible among the 14 SCDRCs who provided a gender break-up of members, nine SCDRCs, including Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Odisha and Delhi, have consistently had at least one woman member or a president in the last five years,” the report said.
Gujarat, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh had the lowest representation of women in SCDRCs, it added.
The report also flagged staff crunch in consumer commissions. Across the 20 SCDRCs that provided data, on average, one in five staff positions was vacant.
Vacancies ranged from 12.2 per cent in Himachal Pradesh to more than 33 per cent in five states and Union Territories.
Jharkhand recorded the highest staff vacancy, with 64 per cent of total staff posts vacant. Only six SCDRCs functioned without any staff vacancy.
In Puducherry and Delhi, 40 per cent or more positions were unfilled.
According to the report, the Consumer Protection Act mandated a total of 38 staff positions, including 10 peons, in SCDRCs. Moreover, for every 250 pending cases, there should be one assistant and one clerk, thereby taking the minimum strength to 40, the report said.