Bar charges Bengaluru man Rs 21 extra, courts asks the shop to pay Rs 10,000!
- Bengaluru man had alcohol at a bar in Siddapur, Uttara Kannada district
- Bar charged him Rs 21 extra and argued they were right
- Man approached the consumer court which slapped the bar with Rs 10,000 fine
FollowThe notion that a drunkard doesn’t know what he/she is doing drove a bar staff to charge an additional amount of Rs 21 on one customer’s bill. But the customer was still in his senses and refused to pay more. This is what happened later, the trick boomeranged on the bar.
The man approached a consumer court over this, and the court directed the bar to pay the customer Rs 10,000 compensation. In addition, the bar will have to pay the victim Rs 21 and Rs 1,000 towards the court expenses.
What exactly happened?
A resident of Srinagar in Bengaluru had been to Uttara Kannada district. In the evening he went to Minino Wines at Siddapur. He ordered a Mc Donald Whisky (180 ml) and half litre soda. The bill should have been Rs 140. Instead, the bar owner had charged him Rs 161.
When the Bengaluru man questioned the bar staff on charging him extra, there was no positive response from the staff. The ‘victim’ had even informed the bar staff that they had violated the Excise sale rules and charged him extra illegally. He had even sent a notice to the bar through a lawyer asking the bar to return the extra money.
This notice was not answered by the bar staff. Following which, the victim filed a case with the consumer court and demanded Rs 1 lakh compensation from the bar.
The district consumer court judges Sunanda, and member Raju N Methri had issued a notice to the bar in this regard. Answering the notice, the bar owner had put forth an argument that issues of the excise department do not come under Consumer Court Act. The owner had even argued that the licensed bars had the provision to charge extra than the MRP.
While reviewing the matter, the court found that even bars which have a license cannot charge extra and that it is compulsory to give the bill to the customer.
After considering all the points, the court came to a conclusion that the bar was not only cheating customer but even tried to mislead the court. Thus it slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on the bar in addition to Rs 1,000 (expenses towards court) and Rs 21 which was illegally taken from the customer.
