The objective of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 was to provide consumers with speedy and inexpensive justice. The hearings were to be informal and judgments were to be given within 90 days of filing the complaint.
But the judges appointed to the consumer courts are judges who retire from regular courts. Slowly, procedures (such as too much formalism, adjournments, etc.) which cause huge delays in regular courts are making their way into consumer courts and causing similar delays in delivery of justice. Some cases in consumer courts have taken as long as 9 years to be concluded.