New Delhi: A consumer court in Delhi has ordered a private hospitality group to return a Rs 1 lakh booking amount that was paid for a wedding scheduled for June 2020.
The event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
The Central Delhi District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, led by president Inder Jeet Singh and member Rashmi Bansal, imposed additional penalties of Rs 10,000 for causing distress to the complainant and Rs 5,000 for legal expenses.
The case involved a complaint about service deficiency against Wedding Opera (a unit of SG Hospitality) regarding their refusal to return Rs 1 lakh paid for reserving a banquet hall for a wedding on June 29, 2020. The wedding could not proceed due to lockdown measures.
The complainant, SK Khurana, said that Wedding Opera neither offered alternative dates nor it returned the booking amount despite multiple requests.
The commission observed that Khurana's claims went unchallenged as the hospitality group had failed to respond to the complaint. "The opposite party or OP (Wedding Opera) had unjustly retained the amount paid by the complainant, especially when there was an order from govt for a nationwide lockdown... There is no fault on the part of the complainant."