Naveen Puri, President;

1        The complainant Tarsem Singh has filed the present complaint under Section 12 and 13 of the Consumer Protection Act (herein after called as 'the Act') against Bal Mukand Pravesh Chande, Dhawb Wasti Ram, Amritsar thorough its Manager herein after called opposite party No. 1 and  Vicky Arora Son of Harjinder Arora C/o Arora General Store at Adda Naurangabad Tehsil & District Tarn Taran on the allegations of deficiency in service and negligence in service on the part of the opposite parties with prayer that the opposite party No. 1 may be directed to reimburse the whole amount as mentioned above by complainant for suffering from physical as well as mental agony, torture, stress & loss to his reputation in the society and relatives due to the negligence and adulteration/ contaminated of rose syrup/ squash to the tune of Rs. 3,00,000/- as compensation and Rs. 50,000/- as litigation charges.          

2        The case of the complainant in brief is that the complainant is a person of high social status and reputation in the society as he is also member Panchayat of Village Raishiana Tehsil & District Tarn Taran and he is having good circle in the society and he bears a very good moral character & reputation in the society. In the month of July 2017, the complainant purchased one Bottle of Balcose Rose Syrup/Squash from the shop of Vicky Arora which is situated on road at Adda Naurangabad which comes on the way to the residential of the complainant at village Raishiana Tehsil & District Tarn Taran. After purchasing the said bottle of rose Squash/Syrup, the complainant came to his house at Tarn Taran, when he reached his house, he was surprised to see some guests from the village along-with local leaders and local M.L.A. visited his house. The complainant told his wife that he has brought a new bottle of Rose Squash/Syrup for the guests. To utter surprise when the wife of the complainant was just going to break open the seal of said bottle, she saw that bottle of rose squash was contaminated with a dead fly that was manufactured by the Opposite party No.1 and purchased from Opposite Party No.2. The wife of the complainant when brought this fact in the knowledge of the complainant guests who were sitting in the house of the complainant also heard the same. Thereafter, those guests left the house of the complainant in a very harsh-full manner by stating that they are vegetarian and they do not want to consume any insect and the complainant felt ashamed at the hands of those guests who came from his in-laws family. The complainant has felt so much ashamed and he did not go to his shop neither he took his meals nor he went out of his house for next two days. The complainant is feeling so much ashamed that he is not getting that much courage to go to the house of those guests to feel sorry to them and moreover, he is having political carrier and image in the society which has also been shattered. After about 5 days, the complainant went to the opposite party No.2 along-with the sealed bottle containing dead fly inside and complained about the contamination of said rose Syrup/Squash to the shopkeeper from whom he has purchased the same, the shopkeeper felt sorry from the complainant and requested the complainant that the bottle is sealed one and the dead insect/fly in the bottle is due to the negligence and short coming on the part of the manufacturer and further gave the photocopy of the bill to complainant through which he has purchased the said rose Squash/Syrup from the opposite party No.1 and he also told the complainant that previously also a dead fly was found in a sealed bottle of the same company and consumer has filed a civil suit for damages against them which is pending before the civil courts at Tarn Taran. Thereafter, the complainant approached the opposite party No.2 on the above said address at Amritsar but the manager Lucky of OP No.2, inspite of admitting guilt, misbehaved the complainant and insulted him by pulling him out of his premises in front of the many persons. If the above said adulterated/ contaminated rose Syrup/Squash would have been consumed by the complainant, his family and his guests without being noticed that there is a dead fly lying in the sealed bottle of above said rose Syrup/Squash then the complainant, his family and the guests could have become seriously ill and only the opposite parties are responsible for that. The opposite parties are guilty of fault, negligence, imperfection, abort coming and inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of performance of service, hence are guilty of deficiency in service. Moreover, the said acts of the negligence and deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties which have also resulted in great mental pain, agony, harassment and inconvenience to the complainant. The opposite parties refused to accept the request of the complainant. Hence the present complaint.

3        The opposite parties have duly been served in this case and opposite party No. 1 did not appear in the Forum and consequently, the opposite party No. 1 was proceeded against exparte vide order dated 24.10.2017. On 7.11.2017 none appeared on behalf of opposite party NO. 2 and opposite party No. 2 was also proceeded against exparte vide order dated 7.11.2017.

4        Ld. counsel for the complainant has tendered in evidence affidavit of complainant Ex. C-1 alongwith documents Ex. C-2 to Ex. C-8 and closed the evidence.

5        We have carefully examined all the documents/ evidence as made available on the complaint records (as duly put forth by the complainant’s counsel) along with the scope of the adverse inference that may be judicially but discretionarily drawn on account of the intentional non-participation of the prime OP1 Manufacturer and OP2 Vendor instead preferring ex-parte proceedings, in the very back-drop of arguments as put forth by the learned counsel for the litigating side.

6        We find that the complainant in the month of July, 2017 had purchased (affidavit Ex.C1) one sealed Bottle of Rose Syrup (of OP1 Balcose Make & Manufacture) from the OP2 Vendor. However, upon reaching home his wife noticed a dead fly inside the sealed Bottle when she was about to open the syrup bottle to prepare squash for family guests already present in the house. The complainant felt insulted and harassed as the guests left his house unceremoniously without par-taking even any other eatable etc.

7        The OP2 vendor upon contact apologized and advised the complainant of the OP1 manufacturers’ address and also delivered him the related purchase Bill dated 10.05.2017 produced here as Ex.C2. He also advised the complainant that he had even earlier found a dead fly in the same manufacturers’ product for which a civil suit is already in progress in the local civil court of which however no evidence has been produced. The complainant has produced his Member Panchayat ID as Ex.C7 and photographs of the sealed syrup bottle with dead fly (Ex.C3 to Ex.C6) floating over the same and that satisfactorily proves the instant allegation-contented consumer-complaint.            

8        Interestingly enough, the complainant here has sought compensation against the OP1 manufacturer only but we see that OP2 vendor also should have exercised extra/ additional caution while dealing with products of the OP1 manufacturers with whom he was in active litigation on the similar count of a dead fly in syrup bottle. Finally, the unwarranted absence of the OP1 Manufacturer and the OP2 vendor preferring to be proceeded against ex-parte (by staying away from the same) has further strengthened the trite judicial presumption that an intentional absentee/ ex-parte litigant has no legs to stand in the witness box to plead his defense/ no cogent and acceptable defense to plead. However, we (in line with the settled law) are inclined to subject the ‘award’ to the restrictions of ‘moderation’ so as not to cause undue enrichments to the ‘awardee’ and/ or to cast undue excessive ‘burden/ distress’ to the delinquent party. We are inclined to burden both the titled opposite parties vide an adverse statutory award against both so as they adopt hygienic measures, in future.

9        In the light of the all above, we find the hue of actionable statutory merit in the present complaint and thus ORDER the OP1 Manufacturer to pay Rs 50,000/-( Rupees Fifty Thousand only ) to the complainant as cost and compensation within 30 days of the receipt of its copy otherwise the awarded amount shall attract interest @ 9% PA from the date of filing of the complaint till actual payment.

10      Copy of the order be communicated to the parties free of charges. After compliance, file be consigned to records.