Sri Pradip Kumar Das, aged about 31 years,
S/o: Sri Laxmidhara Das
At:Mathasahi,
PO/Dist:Bhadrak-756100
…………………Complainant
(Vrs.)
1. M/s.Rout Communication,
At:Jena Sahi, Jagannathpur,
PO:Bhadrak-756100
Dist:Bhadrak
2. M/s.Suva Shree Agencies,
At: Korkara, PO:Koreipur,
Dist:Bhadrak
3. M/s.Tripty Drinks Pvt.Ltd.,
Indian Supplier of Beverages
At:Jagatpur, Cuttack
4. M/s.SMV Beverages Pvt.Ltd.(Pepsi)
Jagatpur, Cuttack-784021
5. M/s.PepsiCo India,
3B, DLF Corporate Park
“S” Block, Qutab Enclave, Phase-III
Gurgaon-122002
…………………..Opp.Parties
For the Complainant : Sri Soumitri Kumar Rout, Advocate
For the Opp.Parties : N o n e
Order No.7 dt.28.04.2015:
Succinctly put, the case of the Complainant is that in order to entertain his 4 nos. of friends, he went to shop of O.P.No.1 on 23.10.2014 and purchased 5 bottles of PEPSI Cold drink containing 200 ml. each on payment of Rs.50/- to O.P.No.1. Complainant served 4 nos. of PEPSI bottles purchased from O.P.No.1 on the spot to his friends and while going to open 5th PEPSI Cold drink bottle for his consumption, one of the friends shouted not to open the said bottle. The Complainant while verifying the said PEPSI Cold drinks bottle (Lehar Pepsi 200 ml. manufactured by O.Ps 3 to 5 having Batch No.119 dt.07.07.2014 at 04.44) in his naked eye found floating of liquor bottle wrapper(Officers’ Choice) inside the bottle. Complainant immediately on the spot brought it to the notice of O.P.No.1 who expressed his helplessness saying that he had purchase the said PEPSI Cold drink bottles from O.P.No.2 on 29.07.2014 but he can only replace the said bottled by another one. Complainant did not return the said PEPSI Cold drink bottle to O.P.No.1 being a conscious citizen and came back to his house. According to Complainant he being a conscious educated citizen not only humiliated but also suffered from serious mental agony. Had the Complainant or his friends or general public consumed the said spurious PEPSI cold drinks sold by O.P.No.1, they would have been admitted in the hospital. So alleging deficiency in service on the part of O.Ps the Complainant filed this case on 25.11.2014 praying to direct the O.Ps to pay compensation of Rs.1,50,000/- for his mental agony and harassment and Rs.5,000/- towards cost of litigation. Besides, the Complainant has prayed to direct the O.Ps to pay Rs.3,00,000/- to Consumer Welfare Fund of Government for sale of such unhygienic and spurious cold drink to the public in the open market.
Even though the O.Ps received notice as per postal acknowledgements, they did not prefer to appear in this case and file their written version. Therefore, the O.Ps have been set exparte as per order dt.11.03.2015.
Having heard the Complainant and upon perusal of record we found that the Complainant had purchased 5 bottles of Lehar PEPSI Cold drink containing 200 ml. each having Batch No.119 dt.07.07.2014 at 04.44 manufactured by O.Ps 3 to 5, on payment of Rs.50/- from the shop of O.P.No.1. The Complainant found floating of liquor bottle wrapper (Officers’ Choice) inside one of the bottles of purchased Lehar PEPSI Cold drink. He immediately brought this fact to the notice of O.P.No.1 who wanted to replace the same by another one but the
Complainant being a conscious citizen did not agree with the proposal of O.P.No.1. As such not only the Complainant humiliated in front of his friends but also suffered from serious mental agony. Had the Complainant or his friends or general public consumed the said spurious PEPSI cold drinks sold by O.P.No.1, they would have been admitted in the hospital. So the Complainant filed this case The Complainant for punitive as well as exemplary damages against O.Ps 3 to 5 for the sale and supply of defective contaminated spurious food product. We have verified the sealed Lehar Pepsi Cold drink bottle in question and found floating of liquor bottle wrapper (Officers’ Choice) inside the bottle. When floating of foreign material like liquor wrapper is visible to naked eye, the said bottle was not tested by the Laboratory. Therefore, the contents of bottle manufactured by O.Ps 3 to 5 and sold through O.P No.1 was defective due to improper cleaning of bottle and unfit for human consumption. As the O.Ps 3 to 5 have nothing to say regarding floating of foreign material or improper cleaning of the bottle, they remained silent. Floating of foreign material like wrapper of liquor bottle in the purchased Lehar Pepsi cold drink bottle caused lot of embarrassment to the Complainant and he suffered serious mental agony. The word ‘defect’ as defined by section 2(1)(d) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 means any fault, imperfection or shortcoming in the quality, quantity, potency, purity or standard which is required to be maintained by or under any law for the time being in force or under any contract, express or implied, or as is claimed by the trader in any manner whatsoever in relation to any goods. However, since the Complainant or his friends have not suffered so much that they might have to go to the hospital for treatment but mental agony and harassment of the Complainant entitles him reasonable compensation. This is not a case where whole batch of the bottle manufactured by the O.Ps 3 to 5 found to be containing some foreign substance. It was a case of a single bottle and therefore an aberration.
Taking overall view of the matter we deem that a lump sum compensation of Rs. 30,000/- which shall include cost of litigation shall meet the ends of justice. This compensation shall be paid by O.Ps 3 to 5, the manufacturer of the goods as it alone is liable for manufacturing a defective goods within a period of 30 days of receipt of this order, failing which interest @ 9% per annum shall be payable by the O.Ps from the date of disposal till its realization. Further, the O.Ps 3 to 5 are directed to maintain hygienic value of cold drink at the time of packing prior to dispatching the cold drink bottles to market for human consumption.
