Bengaluru man sued a well-known supermarket for selling expired oats and won a refund and compensation of Rs 10,000.
This man learned the practice of examining expiry dates on products the hard way. Extra labels pasted over food packets must be looked out for everytime one purchases a product as it could have been relabelled to cover the already crossed usage date.
Joripet resident Parappa — on September 24, 2021 — visited the Namdhari supermarket on 10th Main near Ashok Pillar, Jayanagar I Block to purchase some materials. One of the things he purchased was a packet of Post Honey Bunches of Oats costing Rs 925, said a Times of India report.
Parappa consumed the product and fell sick, heaving to consult a doctor. This led the 49-year-old to check the product package and look for its manufacturing and expiry date. To his shock, the product was relabelled with fresh dates instead of the original label which showed that the product had expired.
To voice his grievance, Parappa had contacted the supermarket staff but failed to receive any positive response. He then sent a legal notice — on November 7, 2021 — to the Namdhari Agro Fresh Private Limited on the ground of unfair trade practices.
Following this, the next year Parappa went to the Bengaluru I Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, where his lawyer presented his case. The attorney presenting Namdhari claimed that these were false allegations on a firm that has been in the business for many years.
The proceedings reportedly lasted for about nine months, where the court noted that the complainant had provided valid evidence related to the relabelling of the oats packet with false manufacturing and expiry dates over the original dates.
On August 8, 2023, the court rules in favour of Parappa and directed the company to pay the customer a full refund of Rs 925 and a compensation of Rs 5,000 for the illness caused to him. The court also directed the company to pay an additional Rs 5,000 as cover for Parappa’s court expenses. The company is to pay all these within the next two months from the court’s order.
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