BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SIRSA.
     
Consumer Complaint no. 192 of 2023 Date of Institution :    26.04.2023
Date of Decision :   10.12.2024.   
Inder Pal, aged 41 years son of Shri Gokal Ram, resident of House No. 17, Gali No.9, near Bansal Hospital, Hisar Road, Mahavir Colony, Sirsa, District Sirsa. 
      ….Complainant.                      
Versus
1. Reliance Smart, Reliance Retail Limited, Municipal ID No.SRS/ B17/566, at Biyani Service Station, Opposite Hero Motor Showroom, Dabwali Road, Sirsa, Tehsil and District Sirsa (Haryana), through its authorized person/ Signatory. 
2. Reliance Smart India Office Address: Reliance Industries Limited, Maker Chambers IV, Nariman Point, Mumbai- 400021 Maharashtra India.
  ..…Opposite parties.
            Complaint under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Before: SH. PADAM SINGH THAKUR………. PRESIDENT
SMT. SUKHDEEP KAUR……………..MEMBER SH. OM PARKASH TUTEJA…………MEMBER
Present: Complainant in person.
Sh. A.S. Kalra, Advocate for opposite parties.
ORDER
The complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 against the opposite parties (hereinafter referred as OPs).
2.         In brief, the case of complainant is that complainant approached the store of op no.1 for some domestic needs on 07.04.2023 and purchased some confectionary as well as grocery items including Oreo Vanilla Cream Biscuit having Bar Code no. 7622201714673 and employee of op no.1 issued bill of Rs.2062.73. The op no.1 handed over the items to the complainant without providing any carry bag to him. That actual price of the Biscuit was only Rs.85/- whereas op no.1 charged the amount of Rs.90/- which fact is also evident from the bill and in this manner the ops have charged excess amount of Rs.5/- i.e. more than MRP price and when complainant raised protest in this regard to the employees of ops they misbehaved with him. The op no.1 also refused to return the said items. It is further averred that food items of ops are also of bad quality and due to consumption of same, the complainant also suffered from vomiting and remained ill for two three days and due to this he suffered pecuniary and non pecuniary loss. The complainant also lodged complaint over Reliance Retail Service Desk vide complaint no. TTTN4401535 dated 08.04.2023 but to no effect and ops have caused deficiency in service and adopted unfair trade practice and have caused unnecessary harassment to the complainant. Hence, this complaint seeking directions to the ops to refund the amount of Rs.5/- and to provide the carry bag free of costs to all its customers because op no.1 is using the carry bag for the purpose of their advertisement and also to pay compensation to the tune of Rs.3,00,000/- to the complainant besides litigation expenses.  
3.          On notice, initially none appeared on behalf of ops and they were proceeded against exparte. But later on ops appeared and the application filed on behalf of ops for setting aside the exparte order was set allowed subject to payment of costs of Rs.1000/- to the complainant. The ops filed written statement raising preliminary objections. It is submitted that printing of amount of Rs.90/- on bill instead of Rs.85/- and charging the extra amount of Rs.5/- is neither intentional nor deliberate or malafide or to gain illegally in any manner, rather is the result of mistake occurred due to technical error in the machine/ worker/ operate, hence there is no deficiency in service or unfair trade practice in any manner on the part of answering ops, hence complaint is liable to be dismissed. It is further submitted that false and frivolous assertion about misbehaving, protest, store items of bad quality and consumption of same resulting into vomiting and illness has been pleaded by complainant in order to make it a case of getting himself highlighted and to get compensation as in each and every consumer store it is clearly displayed that in case any customer finds that extra money is being charged to the customer then customer can get refund of extra money charged alongwith Rs.100/- additionally immediately from the store, but complainant who is an educated person despite this notice instead of availing the option provided by the company approached this Commission for compensation concealing the factum of this very fact. It is further submitted that complaint is not maintainable against answering ops on the ground of alleged bad quality of food items as each and every food articles/ items are duly packed/ sealed by the manufacturing company with specific note thereof about manufacturing and expiry date. No record or report of any expert or Food Department has been placed on record about sale of bad quality food items by answering ops, hence, complainant is estopped by his own act and conduct to file the present complaint. That complainant has not been filed in the interest of public at large with the permission of this Commission, so seeking the relief of providing free carry bag to all its customers is not tenable. Providing the carry bag with charges is the policy matter of the company and no one is forced to take carry bag. On merits, while reiterating the pleas of preliminary objections, it is submitted that had the complainant brought this fact into the notice of operator working at billing section about the technical/ human error, that would have been rectified by the concerned operate or by the Store Incharge immediately with an apology for the error and refund of excess amount alongwith Rs.100/- immediately would have been made as Reliance Smart, Reliance Retail Ltd. is having store all over India and motive of the company is to keep each and every customers satisfied and to provide all products of good quality and with schemes time to time. No one has been named who has misbehaved with the complainant. It is further submitted that it is not a fact that product are sold as per MRP. Some time as per scheme, few items are given additionally and product is sold even less than MRP. All the other contents of complaint are also denied to be wrong and prayer for dismissal of complaint made.
4.         The complainant in evidence has tendered his affidavit Ex.CW1/A and documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C4. 
5.          On the other hand, ops have tendered affidavit of Sh. Chand Singh, authorized representative as Ex. RW1/A and documents Ex.R1 to Ex.R6. 
6.            From the document Ex.C1, it is evident that the MRP of Biscuit in question having Bar Code No. 7622201714673 was Rs.85/- (incl. of all taxes) but from the bill Ex.C2 placed on file by complainant, it is evident that op no.1 charged an amount of Rs.90/- for the said product i.e. Biscuit and said Code No. 7622201714673 of the product is also printed on the bill. So, it is clearly proved on record that ops have charged extra amount of Rs.5/- from the complainant which is clear unfair trade practice and deficiency in service on the part of ops. The pleas now taken by ops in their written version are immaterial and have no relevance at this stage because a consumer who has been charged extra money against MRP has every right to invoke the jurisdiction of the Consumer Commission and to get redressed his grievances by filing consumer complaint. Moreover, it cannot be said that each and every notice displayed in the store of ops would be read by each and every customer and even literate person can skip such notice and therefore, ops cannot be absolved from their liability for charging extra amount than MRP by taking above said pleas. The complainant besides refund of the amount of Rs.5/- extra charged by ops is also entitled to compensation from ops on account of above said unfair act and trade practice and deficiency in service on the part of ops.
7.          In view of our above discussion, we allow the present complaint and direct the opposite parties to make refund of the amount of Rs.5/- extra charged from the complainant. We also direct the ops to pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- as compensation for harassment and Rs.5000/- as litigation expenses to the complainant. The ops are liable to comply with this order within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order, failing which complainant will be entitled to interest on the total amount of Rs.15,005/-  at the rate of @6% per annum from the date of this order till actual realization. However, the request of complainant seeking direction to the ops to provide carry bag free of costs to all its customers is declined.  A copy of this order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to the record room. 
         
Announced: Member   Member President,
Dated: 10.12.2024.           District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission, Sirsa.