BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 165 of 2013
Date of Institution : 17.09.2013.
Date of Decision : 23.11.2016.
Sanjeev Munjal son of Shri Mahender Nath, resident of Bank of Barodawali Gali Near Suratgarhia chowk, Sirsa, District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
- Jain Confectionary Shiv Chowk, Sirsa.
- Sachdeva Enterprises, Scout Chowk, Rori Gate, Sirsa.
- Pepsico India Holdings Pvt. Ltd. village Alaas, Gobipur, P.O. Gambar Panipat.
- Pepsico India, 3B, DLF Corporate Park, S Block Qutals Enclave, Phase-3, Gurgaon.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986.
Before: SHRI S.B.LOHIA…………………PRESIDENT
SHRI RANBIR SINGH PANGHAL ………..……MEMBER.
Present: Sh. Sanjay Mehta, Advocate for the complainant.
Opposite party No.1 exparte.
Sh. Ravinder Monga, Advocate for opposite party no.2.
Sh. Aashish Singla, Advocate for opposite parties No.3 & 4.
ORDER
Case of complainant, in brief, is that he had purchased a beverage bottle of Mirinda bearing batch No.1199 LS from opposite party no.1 for a sum of Rs.12/- on 10.6.2013. The op no.2 is authorized distributor of ops No.3 & 4. When the complainant was ready to open the said bottle, he was shocked and surprised to see that there was huge impurities of black colour with fungus in the bottle and in case he had consumed the drink, he had to suffer loss of health and money. The complainant has suffered harassment due to deficiency in service on the part of the ops and the ops are liable to pay compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- to the complainant. The complainant got served legal notice upon ops to pay the said amount to him within 15 days from the date of receipt of notice but the ops instead of admitting their guilt sent a vague reply and did not pay any compensation to him. Hence, this complaint.
2. On notice, initially opposite party no.1 appeared through counsel but thereafter none appeared on behalf of op no.1 and was proceeded against exparte.
3. OP no.2 in its reply asserted that op no.2 is only a distributor of the company and is selling soft drinks duly manufactured by the company in a sealed pack condition. The complaint is based on the assumptions and presumptions which is not permissible under any law. Ops 3 & 4 in their separate written statement have pleaded that complainant has not filed any proof of alleged purchase and unless and until it is conclusively proved that the impugned bottle was manufactured by answering ops, no liability can accrue upon them. The alleged bottle is not manufactured by answering ops. The soft drinks manufactured by ops are manufactured in modern sophisticated plants, which uses a very high standard of hygiene and cleanliness. The soft drink beverages undergo multistage cleaning process at the bottling plant where there is no scope of contamination. The complainant has himself admitted that the alleged impurities was clearly visible, therefore, it shows the malafide intention of the complainant who purchased the spurious soft drink bottle for litigation purpose for illegal gains. Remaining contents of the complaint have been denied.
4. In evidence, the complainant has tendered his affidavit Ex.C1, copy of legal notice Ex.C2, postal receipts Ex.C3. On the other hand, ops No.3 & 4 tendered affidavit Ex.R1, reply to legal notice Ex.R2. OP No.2 tendered his affidavit Ex.R3.
5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the case file carefully.
6. As per allegations of complainant, he had purchased one bottle of Mirinda from opposite party no.1 for a sum of Rs.12/- on 10.6.2013 but no bill/ receipt of the amount paid to op no.1 has been produced on file by the complainant. So the complainant has failed to prove that he is consumer of the opposite parties and therefore, has failed to fulfill the basic requirement of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Therefore, very case of the complainant is baseless and without any foundation and as such the complaint is hereby dismissed. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties free of costs. File be consigned to record room after due compliance.
Announced in open Forum. President,
Dated: 23.11.2016. Member. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forum, Sirsa.
