Telangana at bottom, Andhra at top, shows report

Hyderabad: Telangana has been ranked last among 19 large and mid-sized states in the Consumer Justice Report 2026, a study that evaluates how effectively consumer grievances are resolved across India.

Released on Wednesday, March 18, the report, titled “Consumer Justice Report 2026: Assessing Capacity of Redressal Commissions in India,” measures the performance of consumer dispute redressal commissions on parameters such as workload, infrastructure and human resources under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. 

Only states with a population of over 1 crore were included. While Telangana sits at the bottom of the list, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh tops it, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and West Bengal.

Key posts are lying vacant

The findings paint a worrying picture of Telangana’s consumer redressal machinery. As of 2025, the post of president at the Telangana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) remains vacant. At the district level, one in four such posts is unfilled. More strikingly, of the 33 districts in Telangana, only 12 District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commissions (DCDRC) are currently functional.

Housing disputes accounted for the largest share of cases filed at 25 per cent, followed by insurance at 21 per cent and agriculture at 15 per cent.

Cases taking six-times longer than they should

Delays in case disposal are perhaps the most damning finding. On average, it takes around 1,000 days to dispose of a case, which is nearly six times the stipulated timeframe.

Data drawn from the national consumer case management system between 2010 and 2024 shows that around 11,700 cases were filed in Telangana, of which 66 per cent were first appeals, or cases where a party, dissatisfied with a commission’s ruling, has challenged it at a higher level. 

Of cases filed at the State Commission, 74 per cent took longer than a year to resolve, at an average of 974 days per case. At the district commission level, 61 per cent of cases crossed the one-year mark, with 44 per cent requiring over 20 hearings — roughly a two-year wait for a final order.

On a brighter note, data between 2020 and 2024 shows a 100 per cent case clearance rate, suggesting that while justice may be slow, it is at least arriving.