District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ,Faridabad.

Consumer Complaint  No. 222/2022

 Date of Institution:26.4.2022

Date of Order:10.05.2023.

1.                Ms. Anu Verma Advocate.

2.                Ms. Richa Verma

Both D/o Shri Om Praksh Verma Both r/o A-1607, Ground Floor, Green Field Colony, Faridabad – 121010.

                                                          …….Complainant……..

                                                Versus

1.                Dr. Lal Path Labs Ltd. Reg. office at : Block E, Sector-18, Rohini, New Delhi..

                   Also at:

                   SCO-30, Sector-16, HUDA Market, Faridabad, Haryana – 121002.

2.                Asian Institute of Medical Sciences, Badkhal Flyover Road, Sector-21A, Faridabad, Haryana – 121001.

                                                                              …Opposite parties

Complaint under section-12 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986

Now  amended  Section 34 of Consumer protection Act 2019.

BEFORE:            Amit Arora……………..President

Mukesh Sharma…………Member.

Indira Bhadana………….Member.

PRESENT:                   Sh. Ankur Gosain , counsel for the complainant.

                             Sh.  J.D.Parashar, counsel for opposite party No.1.

                             Sh. S.S.Rao, counsel for opposite party No.2.

ORDER:  

                   The facts in brief of the complaint are that the complainant Nos.1 & 2 alongwith their friend planned a trip to Maldives and therefore made a booking for a holiday package of Maldives for three persons from 8^th to 12 December 2021 from the makemytrip.com (Travel agency) with the booking ID NL 2202582756836 and the total package amount of Rs.3,64 lacs was paid to the makemytrip.com by the month of November 2021 from the bank account of complainant No.2 in various instalments. In order to travel RTPCR test not more than 72 hrs. was required so complainants booked RTPCR tests from opposite party No.2 for themselves, a s such the concerned person from opposite party No.2 came to collect the samples on 06.12.2021 and complainants were informed that the test would be conducted by opposite party No.1 and the reports would come by  the evening on the same day.  At around 09.44 pm on 06.12.2021 complainants received a message from opposite party NO.1 that the reports were ready and upon downloading the reports the complainants were shocked to see that both of the were tested as covid positive by opposite party No.1 . Since the date of travel was approaching in a day, the complainants had to convey their test results to travel agency i.e Makemytrip, and since the test report of two of the three travelers were positive.  Complainants could not travel and therefore requested Makemytrip to provide the refund of their entire amount of Rs.3,64 lacs paid  by the complainant NO.2 but the Makemytrip refused to provided any refund stating that as per their cancellation policy no refund was allowed after 22.11.2021.. Since the complainants were not having any symptoms they decided to get themselves re-tested on 07.12.2021 and therefore they gave their samples for RTPCR test at three different labs one SRL Daignostics.  Second Apollo Daignostics and third at Civil Hospital, Faridabad in order to get the correct results and to eliminate the chances of false reports but by that time opposite party No.1 had already conveyed their results to government authorities and the same was updated in their records due to which complainants received a call in afternoon of 07.12.2021 from the concerned government authorities who asked the complainants to quarantine themselves as complainants had been tested positive by Dr. Lal Path Labs and would had to quarantine themselves for 7 days, also one lady doctor with her assistant from B.K.Hospital Faridabad visited the house of the complainants and asked them to quarantine themselves.  The complainants informed them that complainants had a travel booking and had given their samples for retesting but it was told to the complainant by the authorities on call that even if complainants get themselves retested complainants would not be allowed to travel as complainants were now positive in their records.  Since complainants were once tested positive and asked to quarantine themselves, this crated a lot of stress and panic in the house and the complainants even got their parents and household help namely  Sitara tested for Covid and , therefore on 07.12.2021 the complainants also gave the same ple of their household help namely Sitara and their parents to SRL Daignostics for RTPCR test, also the complainant NO.1 was practicing advocate associated with Gosain and Associates, District and Sessions Court Faridabad and complainant NO.1 had been going to work till 06.12.2021threfore, the complainant’s incorrect positive report issued by opposite paprty No.1 created an atmosphere of stress and fear in the entire office also, all the associates working in the same office including Advocate Ankur Gosain had to get themselves tested for Covid and they also had to keep the office closed for entire day of 07.12.2021, which resulted into loss of work and income of not only the complainant No.1 but also of Gosain and Associates.  Thereafter on the same night of 07.12.2021 the reports from two other labs SRL Diagnostics and Apollo Diagnostics came and both the complainants were covid negative in their reports, that Make my trip still did not refund the amount of package to the complainants.  Later on the reports from the Civil Hospital, Faridabad came which also revealed that the complainants were covid negative, which clearly establishes that the reports issued by opposite party No.1 after receiving the samples from opposite prty No.2 were incorrect and the complainants had suffered huge loss of Rs.3,64 lacs which was the Maldives Travel package amount paid to Makemy trip.

                   Since the complainants were tested Covid positive by the opposite parties, as such the complainants and their family members remained under stress and suffered   great mental tension & agony and complainant shad to unnecessarily get their parents and household help tested and also had to get themselves re-tested under the compelled  circumstances which caused great difficulty to the complainant as they had to give samples and again and had to get the stick inserted inside nose and throat which was very painful.  The complainants also incurred monetary loss in getting their parents and household help tested for covid unnecessarily and had also to spend on getting themselves re-tested from three different labs,  The entire facts about the booking of package and incorrect report were conveyed to opposite  parties Nos.1 & 2 vide email dated 26.12.2021 and in reply to said email opposite parties wrote that they would look into the  issue and after some days, one of the representative doctors from Dr. Lal Path Lab namely Dr. Kailash Bhatt called the complainant No.1 and asked to schedule a meeting, upon which a meeting was held between complainant No.1 and Dr. Kailash Bhatt in the Chamber of Advocate Ankur Gosain on 04.01.2022 wherein Dr. Kailash Bhatt took the booking and payment details of the package from complainant No.1 and had admitted their fault.  Dr. Kailash Bhatt then sought some time and assured the complainant No.1 that they would soon indemnify the loss suffered by the complainants and would also provide some compensation. After few days when no reply was received from Dr. Kailash Bhatt or Dr. Lal Path Lab for a week, then the complainant NO.1 again wrote an email date 10.01.2022 seeking update on status of the complaint made with them and compensation thereof and also informed them that due to incorrect reports  provided by opposite party No.1 complainants were still receiving calls from government authorities asking the complainant to get themselves re-tested for covid, even informing that they would send someone for home collection and even in the Government Notification of the  containment zones the house of the complainants were declared under the containment zones. Upon which it was informed to the complainant  No.1 vide email dated 11.01.2022 that due to covid times the things were getting delayed but still after 20 days when no reply was received the complainant NO.1 again wrote an email dated 03.02.2022  and asked opposite party No.1 to provide an update about the status of complaint and meeting held on 04.01.2022 but then the opposite party No.1 failed ot provide any reply to the complainant No.1 and thereafter when the contacted Dr. Kailash Bhatt on phone call then he clearly refused to provide any compensation. The aforesaid act of opposite party amounts to deficiency of service and hence the complaint.  The complainant has prayed for directions to the opposite parties to:

a)                pay a sum of Rs.3,64,000/- alognwith interest @ 18% p.a. from the date of cancellation i.e. 07.12.2021 till the date of payment.

 b)                pay Rs. 5,00,000/- as compensation for causing mental agony and harassment .

c)                 pay Rs. 1,00,000 /-as litigation expenses.

2.                Opposite party No.1 put in appearance through counsel and filed written statement wherein Opposite party No.1 refuted claim of the complainant and submitted that  the complainants had intentionally suppressed that complainant NO.2 was provided with a refund amount of INR 45,000/- on 17.12.2021 and a further refund amount of INR 36,186/- on 20.12.2021.  The complainants had alleged, albeit wrongly that they were refused a refund and it was for that reason they had failed to make  MakeMyTrip a party to the present proceeding as it would call out  their lies.  It was further submitted that that the test results dated 06.12.2021 of the complainants’ SARS-Cov-2 RTPCR test were incorrect due to which the Government authorities prevented the complainants from undertaking their trip to the Maldives scheduled for 8^th- 12^th December 2021, despite subsequently testing negative. The trip was booked through MakeMyTrip’s website

3.                Opposite party No.2 put in appearance through counsel and filed written statement wherein Opposite party No.2 refuted claim of the complainant and submitted that answering opposite party was a hospital providing medical services  and at no point of time had the complainants availed any medical services from the answering opposite party and therefore, in the absence of any services being provided by the answering opposite party even otherwise the complaint against the answering opposite party was liable to be dismissed in the view of the non-applicability of the provisions of section 83 and 85 of the Act.    It was further submitted that  attempted medication was started to had  taken place between the complainants and opposite party No.1 on 04.01.2022 in the office of Shri Ankur Gosain, Advocate and one Dr. Kailash Bhatt representing opposite party NO.1 claims to have admitted the fault on behalf of opposite party NO.1.  Therefore, in terms of section 37(2) of the Act, the matter was liable to be referred for medication between the complainants and opposite party No.1 as apparently some mediation proceedings were initiated between them but had remained unresolved. Opposite party No.2 denied rest of the allegations leveled in the complaint and prayed for dismissal of the complaint.

4.                The parties led evidence in support of their respective versions.

5.                We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record on the file.

6.                In this case the complaint was filed by the complainant against opposite parties–Dr. Lal Path Labs Limited & Ors. with the prayer to: a)         pay a sum of Rs.3,64,000/- alognwith interest @ 18% p.a. from the date of cancellation i.e. 07.12.2021 till the date of payment.  b)           pay Rs. 5,00,000/- as compensation for causing mental agony and harassment . c)  pay Rs. 1,00,000 /-as litigation expenses.

                    To establish his case the complainant  has led in his evidence,  Ex.CW1/A – affidavit of Richa Verma, Ex.C2 – email dated 04.10.2021,, Ex.C3 – Payment options & schedule,, Ex.C4 (colly) – statement of account, Ex.C-5 & 6 -   Covid report, Ex.C-7 & C8 – Lab report Covid-19, Ex.C9 & C10– Diagnostic reports, Ex.C-11 & 12– Covid 19 RTPCR with Home Collection, Ex.C-13 – Invoice cum receipt, Ex.C-14 – Diagnostic report dated 08.12.2021,, Ex.C-15 – Invoice cum receipt,, Ex.C-16 – Diagnostic report dated 07.12.2021, Ex.C-16 – invoice cum receipt,, Ex.C-17 – Diagnostic report dated 07.12.2021, Ex.C-18 –  Dr. Lal Pathlabs report, Ex.C19 (colly) – email dated 29.12.2021, Ex.C-20(colly) – email dated 10.1.2022, Ex.C-221– whatsapp message, Ex.C-22 & 23– Bill cum receipts,

                   On the other hand counsel for the opposite party No.1 strongly agitated and opposed.  As per the evidence of the opposite party No.1  - affidavit of Ms. Anamika Tiwari,  working  for gain at Dr. Lal Path Labs Limited, the opposite party NO.1 having its registered office at 12^th floor, Tower B, SAS Tower, Medicity, sEctor-38, Gurgaon, Haryana, Annx.  R1 – Authority letter, Annx.R-2 – statement of account, Annx.R-3 – Covid-19 testing, Covid19 updatesm Covid pass testing result, Covid Pass testing hours FAQ:Covid -19 Vaccine information Annx.R-4 -  Nucleric Acid Amplification Testing (e.g. RT-PCR), Annx.R-5 -  Coronavirus: 75% cases in Delhi asymptomatic or with mild symptoms, says CM Arvind Kejriwal, Annx.R-6 -  Covid-19 and PCR testing,, Annx.R-7 – Results & Q.C.s

                   Opposite party No.2 led in his evidence Ex.RW2/A – affidavit of Shubham Mittal, Company Secretary and Authorized Representative for opposite party NO.2 i.e. Asian Institute of Medical Sciences, Faridabad,

7.                In this complaint, the complaint was filed by the complainant with the prayer to pay a sum of Rs.3,64,000/- alognwith interest @ 18% p.a. from the date of cancellation i.e. 07.12.2021 till the date of payment.

8.                No doubt, the opposite party No.1 has submitted the wrong report for the ulterior benefit which shows the deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party.  The claim of the complainant is Rs.3,64,000/- but the opposite party No.1 has refunded the amount of INR 45,000/- on 17.12.2021  and further refund amount of  INR 36,186/- on 20.12.2021. Total comes to Rs.81,186/-.  In the interest of justice,  the complaint is allowed. Opposite party No.1 is directed to pay the balance amount of Rs.2,82,814/- (Rs.3,64,000/-  minus  81,186/- ) alongwith interest @ 6% p.a from the date of filing of complaint till its realization. Opposite party No.1 is also directed to pay Rs.2200/- as compensation for causing mental agony  & harassment alognwith  Rs.2200/- as litigation expenses to the complainant.  Compliance of this order  be made within 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order.   Copy of this order be sent to the parties concerned free of costs.  File be consigned to the record room.

Announced on:  10.05.2023                                         (Amit Arora)

                                                                                           President

                       District Consumer Disputes

           Redressal  Commission, Faridabad.

                                                          (Mukesh Sharma)

                Member

          District Consumer Disputes

                                                                                 Redressal Commission, Faridabad.

                                                            (Indira Bhadana)

                Member

          District Consumer Disputes

                                                                              Redressal Commission, Faridabad.