BENGALURU: A
consumer court has awarded a Bengalurean Rs 10,090 as compensation after he was sold cakes worth Rs 90 at a
Reliance Fresh outlet post the
expiry date. According to the complainant, his son suffered food poisoning on consuming the cakes.
On April 18, 2016, Ulsoor resident R Jayachandran went grocery shopping at a Reliance Fresh store in 2nd Stage, Indiranagar. Along with a bunch of items, he also picked up three packets of
cake costing Rs 90. He claimed that he gave the cakes to his son who suffered food poisoning after consuming them. The boy was soon taken to a doctor and the treatment cost him a few thousands.
Jayachandran checked the expiry date printed on the cake packets and found that the products had expired on March 10, 2016, but were still sold to him. The Bengulrean shot off a letter to the Reliance Fresh manager, but there was no response. Determined to take the battle to its logical end, Jayachandran approached the Bangalore 1st Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum and lodged a complaint against Reliance Retail on May 12, 2016.
While Jayachandran, who appeared for himself, produced the cake packets as proof of his claim, the attorney on behalf of Reliance argued that the allegations were baseless and misconceived. Reliance admitted that the complainant had purchased the cakes from the shop, but stated that the packets he produced before the consumer forum were not the ones sold to him. Moreover, the lawyer argued that the complainant didn’t have any medical evidence to prove that the cakes sold by Reliance had caused his son food poisoning.
The litigation lasted over two years, at the end of which the judges pointed out the fact that Jayachandran failed to produce medical records to prove that consumption of the expired products had resulted in his son falling ill. However, the consumer forum slammed Reliance for selling a food item past its expiry date. “The product was on the shelves for customers to buy despite being outdated, which is clear negligence on part of Reliance and having sold that to the complainant amounts to unfair trade practice,” the judges said.
In its verdict pronounced on July 10, the consumer forum ruled in favour of the customer and ordered the store manager of Reliance to refund Rs 90 paid for the cake packets, apart from Rs 5,000 for causing him inconvenience through the whole episode. The court further ordered the retailer to pay an additional Rs 5,000 towards the customer court expenses.
‘Unfair trade practice’
The product was on the shelves for customers to buy despite being outdated, which is clear negligence on part of Reliance and having sold them to the complainant amounts to unfair trade practice
Judges’ observation
(Picture used for representational purpose)
