Hyderabad: Captain Cook Restaurant at Ameerpet was asked to pay Rs 20,000 as compensation to one of their customer after he found a cockroach crawling out of the biryani from in a takeaway box.
Telangana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission heard the complaint filed by M Arun against the manager of the restaurant.
In September 2021, Arun ordered a Chicken Biryani takeaway parcel from the restaurant. He then reached his workplace and sat to eat the meal.
But to his disgust, he saw the insect crawling out of the food, seeing which he threw up. The incident killed his appetite for days.
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He immediately took a video of the same, called the restaurant and informed them about it. But to his surprise, he heard an apology from the manager of the restaurant stating that pest control recently was underway at the place and had led insects to hide in places and one such roach might have landed in his box.
However, Arun refused to accept the apology stating that seeing the insect crawling in
the food killed his appetite for days.
He further said that he won’t order anything from the place in the future and the manager of the restaurant repaid an amount of Rs 240 to him.
Arun then took the matter to the forum where the opposition party denied allegations made by him stating that the meal in the takeaway box was fresh and hot and there is merely any chance of an insect staying alive at that temperature.
After hearing the details, the commission found the restaurant owners guilty and pointed out that they failed to maintain standards of cleanliness and hygiene and also it was evident from the videos that a cockroach had indeed crawled out.
“The OP acted in a negligent manner in providing hygienic food,” stated the commission adding that it was a basic right of every consumer to have a quality product or service for the charges paid.
The restaurant failed to maintain basic safety precautions in providing hygienic food to its consumers, they said.
“Mere refunding the transaction amounts to the consumers whenever such incident happens should not relieve the opposite parties from their liability of being responsible and cautious,” the commission stated.
An additional Rs 10,000 was slapped on the restaurant for the costs incurred while the commission directed the guilty to pay the fine within a period of 45 days.
