India, Sept. 6 -- A 32-year-old consumer dispute from Maharashtra has been identified as the oldest case to be pending before a state consumer commission in a recent report submitted to the Supreme Court flagging serious concerns of vacancies and long pendency of cases in consumer forums across states and districts that need urgent resolution.

The report depicts a sorry state of functioning of the district and state consumer disputes redressal commission (SCDRC). Besides the Maharashtra matter, the report, prepared by a team of lawyers assisting the court as amicus curiae, also identified a 30-year old case from Kerala pending since December 1995 and a July 2000 matter in Uttar Pradesh that further goes to reveal the systemic problem of ...