The Consumer Justice Report 2026, released in New Delhi on March 18, carried an uncomfortable message for Telangana: of the 19 large and mid-sized states assessed, it ranked dead last. Its neighbour, Andhra Pradesh, stood at the top by scoring 6.28 out of 10 — the highest among all large and mid-sized states. Thanks to the proper institutional base that is in place, between 2020 and 2024, AP cleared nearly 93 per cent of its cases, one of the highest disposal rates in the country. Long-pending cases — those dragging beyond three years — accounted for just 4.9 per cent of its caseload.
The Consumer Justice Report is published by the India Justice Report initiative, backed by the Tata Trusts. This edition focused specifically on consumer dispute redressal commissions under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, drawing on over 28.57 lakh cases filed between 2010 and 2024. States were scored on 11 indicators covering staffing, infrastructure, budget utilisation, case disposal efficiency, long-pending cases and diversity.
The AP’s performance reflected relatively strong staffing, more functional district commissions per capita and well-managed infrastructure. Together, these enabled quicker resolutions for the kinds of disputes that affect ordinary consumers most: insurance claims, defective products, housing project delays and banking grievances. The report held Andhra Pradesh up as a benchmark for what foundational institutional readiness can achieve.
Telangana's score of 2.20 out of 10 placed it 19th, and the reasons are structural rather than superficial. The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission had no president as of 2025, a vacancy that paralysed its functioning at the top. Below that, only 12 of the state's 33 districts had operational commissions — far fewer than the statutory requirement of at least one per district. The gaps left complainants in underserved areas with nowhere to turn, funnelling cases into already overburdened commissions elsewhere.
The consequences showed up starkly in disposal times. At the state level, cases took an average of 974 days to resolve; at the district level, around 669 days. Both figures dwarf the legally mandated 90 to 150 days. Nearly three-quarters of state-level cases and 61 per cent of district-level cases took over a year to close. The report also flagged significant transparency failures: data on long-pending cases, budget utilisation, mediation outcomes and Lok Adalat referrals were either missing or incomplete at the state level — a problem that compounds accountability.
However, Telangana's picture is not entirely bleak. The state’s disposal rate improved dramatically, rising from 70 per cent in 2021 to 103 per cent in 2025, with a five-year average clearance rate of 101 per cent — good enough for fifth place nationally on that single metric. In some years, the state disposed of more cases than were filed.
But the report's methodology weighted foundational readiness and transparency alongside raw throughput. Clearing cases quickly matters less if the system lacks the benches, staff and leadership to sustain that pace — or if citizens in two-thirds of the state's districts cannot access a commission at all. Operational gains, the assessors concluded, could not compensate for structural deficits.
The Consumer Justice Report 2026 landed against a troubling national backdrop. Between 2020 and 2024, overall pendency rose 21 per cent, crossing 5.15 lakh cases. Vacancies exceed 50 per cent in many state commissions, and more than 35 per cent of cases nationally have been pending beyond three years.
Telangana could improve its ranking by taking a few necessary measures: appoint a commission president and fill member vacancies, set up district commissions in all the districts — particularly in high-caseload districts like Ranga Reddy — and close the data transparency gaps that obscure the true scale of the problem. With these measures, the state could also help the consumers to get speedy justice.
