PANAJI
Goa ranks fourth among nine small states in consumer justice, but nearly one-third of the cases pending before its State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission have remained unresolved for more than three years, while the commission spent just 64.6% of its budget allocation in 2025, according to the Consumer Justice Report 2026.
The report gives Goa a score of 3.98 out of 10, behind Meghalaya, which tops the small-state category with 5.58, Sikkim with 4.72 and Himachal Pradesh with 4.20. The findings point to concerns over the time consumers wait for dispute resolution and the utilisation of public funds earmarked for the state commission.
The commission had 147 pending cases in 2025, of which 46 had remained unresolved for more than three years. Another 60 cases had been pending for one to three years, while 41 were pending for up to a year. Cases pending for more than three years accounted for 31.3% of the total backlog.
The report’s annual figures show that the commission disposed of more cases than it received in 2022 and 2023. It recorded 177 new cases and disposed of 180 in 2022, while in 2023 it received 214 cases and disposed of 379. In 2024, it received 250 cases and disposed of 245.
Despite the increase in its budget allocation over the years, the commission’s spending fell in 2025. Against an allocation of Rs 5.40 crore, it spent Rs 3.48 crore, leaving Rs 1.92 crore unspent. The utilisation rate stood at 64.6%, compared with 84% in 2024, when the commission spent Rs 4.43 crore of the Rs 5.28 crore allocated. The commission’s allocation rose from Rs 3.44 crore in 2021–22 to Rs 5.40 crore in 2024–25. It spent Rs 2.35 crore in 2021–22, recording 68.1% utilisation, and Rs 3.24 crore in 2022–23, when utilisation reached 97.5%. The findings form part of the Consumer Justice Report 2026, which assesses the functioning of consumer dispute redressal mechanisms across states using indicators that include case disposal, pendency, staffing, budgets and alternative dispute resolution.
