In a bizarre incident reported from Bengaluru, a man reportedly sued a restaurant for 40 paise overcharge. The court after hearing his plea, slapped him with a Rs. 4,000 fine.
According to a consumer court’s ruling, 50 paise can be rounded off to a rupee under the new rules. Based on the ruling, the customer sued the Bengaluru restaurant for overcharging him. However, the judges rapped the man’s complaint and scolded him for wasting the court’s time. The court further ordered the man to pay Rs. 4,000 as a compensation to the managing director of the restaurant.
The complaint applicant was identified as Murthy, a senior citizen who had gone to Hotel Empire and had ordered a takeaway. Murthy was handed a bill of Rs. 265, however when he questioned the staff, he found out that the total amount was Rs. 264.40.
Following the incident, the senior citizen filed a complaint at a consumer court in Bengaluru and asked Re. 1 in compensation for the “mental shock and agony” he was subjected to.
The Facts of the Matter
With great production and consumption, rises an equally greater chance of fraud cases. Millions of Indians across the nation take the service of a provider, or buy a product. Among them, thousands take to consumer courts to file complaints regarding substandard product quality or fraudulence in service. Thus, consumer courts and consumer protection laws help in providing speedy redressal to such issues and are becoming all the more important in this day and age.
However, what happens when an aggrieved party takes a service provider for merely a few paise?
What the Case was All About?
A Bengaluru based senior citizen identified as Murthy recently dragged a restaurant to court for 40 paise overcharge. Murthy had reportedly visited Hotel Emplire on May 21 and had ordered food for takeaway. He was handed a bill of Rs. 265 while the total of his order amounted to Rs. 264.60. When he asked the restaurant staff about the same, they were able to not provide him with a satisfying response.
Man Seeks Re. 1 as “Mental Shock & Agony” Compensation
Unsatisfied with the response, and unhappy with the fact that he had to pay 40 paise overcharge, he took to Bengaluru consumer court and accused the restaurant of “looting customers”. He further sought Re 1 as a compensation for the “mental shock and agony” he had been subjected to.
The case began on June 26 with the complainant fighting the case on his own, without a representative. During the litigation, the two parties argued over the fact that restaurant had charged Murthy the round figure as taxed amount, not for the food he had ordered as permitted under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act.
Case Took Eight Months to Conclude
It took the seemingly simple case as many as eight months to conclude. Following the back and forth between the two sides, the judges cited one of the Indian government’s circulars where a person withdrawing up to 50 paise and another stating an amount less than 50 paise can be ignored and over 50 paise must be rounded off to the nearest rupee.
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Rs. 4,000 Fine Imposed on Senior Citizen
The judges further ruled that the restaurant was right on its part and that the complainant was not entitled to any relief. Further, the court also ordered the complainant to pay a compensation sum of Rs. 2,000 to the opposite party, and another additional sum of Rs. 2,000 towards the court expenses.
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