Surat: Rising consumer awareness and a growing number of disputes, particularly involving insurance claims, have pushed consumer complaints in Surat to record levels, with the district consumer commission registering its highest-ever annual caseload in 2025.The Surat District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (Main) registered 1,885 cases in 2025, the highest in a single year. The year also recorded the highest number of disposals, with 1,179 cases decided.The trend continued in 2026. Between Jan and Sep, the commission registered 1,391 fresh cases and disposed of 1,053, placing it on course to approach last year’s figures.Data from the commission shows that 7,656 fresh complaints were filed between April 1, 2022, and Sep 30, 2026. In the same 54-month period, 5,015 cases were disposed of.The increase is striking when compared with the previous decade. Between 2012 and 2021, the commission registered 5,457 cases over 120 months, averaging about 45 cases a month. Since April 2022, the average has risen to 141 cases a month.Legal practitioners attribute the rise to greater consumer awareness and an increase in disputes involving insurance claim rejections and other consumer grievances.Consumer lawyer Shreyas Desai said: “The commission’s disposal rate has remained significant despite a steady rise in the number of consumer complaints. We have seen that the commission has taken up old cases first with the intention of disposal. At the same time, CDRC has refused giving dates in prolonged cases that could be disposed of in the interest of consumer rights.”The Surat commission also hears consumer matters from Tapi district.
