SRINAGAR (J&K): Anxious and irritated, 63-year-old Mohammed Shaban moves from cart to cart, trying to negotiate with the vendors the prices of dates amid the day-time din of Maharaja Bazar near Lal Chowk.
“How can you charge Rs 150 a kilo, when your neighbour sells the same dates at Rs 120,” he says in sheer frustration, tired of moving around and trying to find the cheapest available commodity.
This is a daily drill for Kashmiri consumers caught in the web of woes of soaring prices and absence of price regulation.
“It’s not just dates, even for buying tomatoes, I have to waste an hour trying to find and haggle for the right price,” says a consumer. “I paid Rs 60 a kilo for tomatoes one day and returned the next day to find another vendor was selling at Rs 45,” he says, only to be told by the vendors nonchalantly that ‘prices fluctuate everyday’.
Without a price list, we have no way of knowing, says Farooq in resignation. Many consumers echo this and point out that consumer protections earlier provided by the Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) department and consumer courts no longer exist.
The FCS&CA department, once the watchdog of fair trade in the Kashmir valley, now finds itself powerless. “We want to act, but without enforcement powers, our hands are tied,” admitted one official on conditions of anonymity.
This disclosure sets the stage for broader introspection into the collapse of ‘consumer protection’ in Kashmir valley.
For decades, the FCS&CA department played an important role in ensuring that market prices for essential commodities like dates, mutton, or vegetables remained within reasonable bounds. The department’s regulatory framework promised strict ‘enforcement rules’, providing some semblance of order in a vulnerable market, even though the enforcements were often violated.
Earlier, consumers could file grievances in consumer courts, and traders knew that any attempt to overcharge could invite litigations and penalty, say consumers.
In the last six years, series of administrative decisions and policy shifts have, however, eroded the FCS&CA department’s authority.
Sources within the department revealed to Kashmir Times that a critical moment came when the government restructured regulatory oversight in the region, effectively stripping the department of the power to impose fines or take decisive action against violators.
“It was like watching a watchdog slowly lose its bark,” said the source, who witnessed the gradual transformation from powerful enforcement to mere paper-based warnings.
The FCS&CA department's weakening enforcement regulations had a domino effect on consumer redressal mechanisms.
Earlier, consumer courts were the go-to solution for citizens seeking justice against unfair practices.
After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, consumer courts in Jammu and Kashmir became non-functional as the region. In October 2020, among the many laws revoked was the Jammu and Kashmir Consumer Protection Act of 1987. It was replaced by Central Consumer Protection Act of 2019.
This shift led to the disbanding of the earlier Consumer Forums and Commissions, leaving consumers without a platform for grievance redressal.
However, in 2022, the Jammu and Kashmir administration restored the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) and established 10 District Consumer Redressal Commissions to handle consumer complaints. Despite this revival, these courts face procedural challenges such as lack of infrastructure and delays in appointing members, which continue to hinder their effective functioning.
Prior to 2019, although often slow and biased towards officials, the consumer courts at least offered a viable platform for redressal. Today, however, many consumers find these institutions have become ghostly reminders of a forgone era.
A consumer, pleading anonymity, said, “The courts are either non-functional now or merely operating at an uneasily slow pace, compelling Kashmiri consumers to look for alternatives.
Some air their grievances on social media platforms, hoping that a viral outcry might evoke governmental action, while others look up to local civil society groups. These efforts, however, lack the legal chain to enforce change.
While the challenges to consumer protection are systemic and year-round, the onset of Ramadan in Kashmir valley brings these issues into sharper focus.
Ramadan is traditionally a time of communal unity and festivity in Kashmir and all over the world, yet it also coincides with a surge in demand for essential goods.
“Traders, aware of this increased demand, often engage in opportunistic practices and keep fluctuating the price. Dates, vegetables and mutton prices, in particular, are at the centre of this exploitative practice,” says Shaista, a Srinagar resident.
“The butchers in Srinagar often charge Rs 700 per kilo or more for mutton but I hear from relatives in Baramulla and Sopore that they pay Rs 600,” she says.
“When I point this out to the local butchers, they laugh in jest and say, ‘go and buy from Sopore’,” she says with disappointment.
During Ramadan, shoppers in Kashmir valley encounter un-accountable price variations.
“In one instance, a street vendor at Lal Chowk was seen selling superior quality dates at Rs 200 per kilogram, while another nearby stall offered the same dates much less,” says Adil Ahmad, a Srinagar resident.
The lack of uniform pricing not only confuses consumers but also erodes trust in the market system.
“Every shopkeeper is playing their own game. There is no consistency,” Adil says. What is worse is that the government’s promises of regulation have turned out to be hollow.
The festive period, intended for reflection and celebration, thus becomes a time of ‘heightened anxiety’ for consumers, he said. The market was by and large a vibrant and organized space earlier, he avers. “Now it resembles a ‘fish market’ where prices are dictated by whoever shouts the loudest.”
Inside the FCS&CA: A Department Without Teeth
The current plight of Kashmiri consumers is closely intertwined with the functioning of the FCS&CA department. The transformation of this institution has been gradual but stark.
Initially established as a regulator to keep prices in control, the department’s mandate was to protect consumers from exploitation and ensure fair pricing practices.
“Over time, however, a series of policy rollbacks and administrative oversights have rendered it ineffective,” say officials.
One significant shift was recent. An amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Targeted Public Distribution (Control) Order 2023 in August 2024, which aimed to streamline the public distribution system, ended up creating implementation challenges, thereby weakening the department's regulatory role completely.
This burdened department already struggling with severe staff shortage, an issue that remains mired in trading of charges.
A senior official from the department, spoke about the irony of the FCS&CA, “We are like firefighters without hoses. We can see the flames of injustice raging in the markets, but we lack the tools to put them out.”
Notably, the loss of enforcement powers means that the department can now only monitor and issue warnings. These warnings, however, have become little more than ceremonial gestures—hardly an obstacle to traders who have long since adapted to the new mechanisms that give them legitimate ways of evading punishment.
The erosion of authority was compounded by the revocation of long-standing regulatory orders. For instance, the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to revoke the J&K Mutton (Licensing and Control) Order, 1973—a policy that had regulated mutton prices for decades—further undermined the regulatory framework.
Since then, district administrations have been powerless to enforce any price notifications, leaving a regulatory void that traders exploit to the detriment of consumers.
With the FCS&CA weakened and consumer courts largely defunct, the alternatives for redress are too little. In some urban centres, a few online grievance portals have been set up by government agencies.
However, these platforms often ‘suffer from lack of awareness among consumers,’ technical glitches, and overall absence of follow-up action.
Local civil society organisations and business bodies Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF) and Sheh-re-Khaas Traders and Chamber (SKT&C) have attempted to fill the gap, but their influence is “limited” in the face of a system that has, by design, surrendered to the market.
“Without a proper legal framework, all we have are voices on social media and protests,” noted a resident from Srinagar. People are desperate for mechanism that can hold traders accountable, but what we see now is a system that is all talk and no action, he adds.
“We are left with no option but to resign to the market’s arbitrary pricing,” he says, adding with a tinge of worry that this is producing a culture of “mistrust and helplessness” in the “market-place and the institutions we look up to for support”.
Amid mounting public outcry, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah intervened with promises to restore order.
Recently, he ordered the reactivation of the FCS&CA’s enforcement wing, signalling ‘an intent to crack down’ on the rampant overpricing and quality control in the market.
An FCS&CA official proudly announced that “teams had been dispatched across various districts to ensure that traders display official price lists and adhere to prescribed rates.” Yet, doubts persist.
Consumers point out that while the reactivation is a positive gesture, it remains superficial without the restoration of full enforcement powers.
“We are conducting inspections, issuing notices of displaying ‘rate lists’ but the proper enforcement powers are week. For instance, we have no mandate to impose fines or shut down entire operations. As long as the department is toothless, these measures will be no more than a show,” an insider source from the department said.
Soon after the CM’s intervention the FCS&CA department issued a public notice, dated of 06 March, stated, “all retail shop owners must clearly display the prices of all items they sell. This is required under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.”
It called upon consumers to file complaint if a retailer charges more than the price set by law, the price on the product or its packaging, the price listed on the displayed rate list, or the price agreed with the customer.
The order also asked retailers to display a visible rate list for all products, warning that failure to do so constitutes an unfair trade practice subject to penalties. “Officials will conduct regular inspections, and violations will trigger legal action. Retailers should comply immediately to avoid penalties,” it further added.
According to an official who spoke anonymously, despite the department losing its enforcement powers, they are now pursuing alternative legal methods, such as issuing penalties through the Commission of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs. The official explained that since SO300, which previously granted enforcement powers to the department, has been revoked, they will now proceed through these alternative legal channels.
However, consumer rights activists describe such efforts as a mere window dressing. This important issue of protecting vulnerable consumers requires a multi-pronged approach and begins with restoration of FCS&CA department’s enforcement powers, they add.
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