Consumer Court Directs Cuttack Shopping Mall To Pay 25K As Compensation

Cuttack: A Consumer Court here directed the authorities of a shopping mall, located at Buxibazar to pay a compensation of Rs 25,000 to a customer for charging a sum of Rs 6 from him towards the cost of a carry bag.

Hearing the matter, the Cuttack district consumer dispute redressal commission, asked the shopping mall’s branch manager and managing director to pay the customer, Padmolochan Rout, Rs 10,000 towards compensation for his mental agony and harassment.

Besides, he will get a compensation of Rs 15,000 towards his litigation expenses.

As per the complaint, Rout, a resident of Muliasahi of Haripur in the city had purchased a T-shirt for a price of Rs 249 from the shopping mall on December 28, 2020.

While making the payment at the cash counter, he was asked about the requirement for a carry bag. When Rout agreed to the requirement, the carry bag was provided to him, but a price of Rs 6 was charged for the carry bag without intimating the customer.

Subsequently, when he came to know about the extra charges, he filed a case with the commission.

The complainant contended that he was not made clear that he would be charged Rs 6 towards the price of the carry bag if he required the same.

He alleged that the shopping mall adopted unfair trade practices as nowhere at the shopping mall it was clearly mentioned that a carry bag would cost Rs 6.

Hearing the arguments, the commission observed that the shopping mall authorities adopted unfair trade practices by selling the carry bag to the customer, and thus they are deficient in their service.

The commission further said that the complainant is definitely entitled to the reliefs and directed the shopping mall authorities to release the compensation within 30 days from the date of the receipt of the order.