BEFORE THE HONOURABLE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES

REDRESSAL FORUM/COMMISSION, BANGALORE

Complainant’s Name and Address : |||||| |||||||| ||||||||||||| |||||||| |||||| ||||||||||| ||||||||
|||||||||| ||||||||| |||||||||||| ||||||| ||||||||||| ||||||||||||||| |||| |||||||||||||

Vs.

Opposite Party’s Name and Address : M/s Port Lounge, Unit of PK

Hospitality Services Limited, Departure Lounge, Bangalore Airport, TIN:
29050476982

Complaint filed under section 12(a) of the Consumer Protectio n Act,

1986

1. The Complainant is |||||| |||||||| ||||||||||||| |||||||||||||| |||| |||||||| |||||| ||||||||||| ||||||||
|||||||||| ||||||||| |||||||||||| ||||||| ||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||| .

The address for service of orders and process o f the complainant is as

above.

2. The Opposite Party is M/s Port Lounge, Unit of PK Hospitality Services

Limited, Departure Lounge, Bangalore Airport, TIN: 29050476982

The address for service of all notices and process orders of the Opposite
Party is as stated above.

3. Particulars relating to goods/services complained of :

a. Details of goods/service :

Item: 200ml Bejois Apple packaged juice – 1 piece, packed on 13 th

January, Batch number 07B
Date: 10th March, 2007
Amount paid as consideration : Rs 30 (attached ph otocopy of
sale bill)

b. The complaint relates to :

Excess price charged by trader above MRP.

4. The complaint state as follows:

a. The facts of the complaint:

On 10 th March, 2007, I was at the Bangalore Airport departure

lounge waiting to catch a domestic flig ht. I bought the item
mentioned in Para (3)(a) which has an MRP of Rs 10. The trader
charged me Rs 30 for the same. I asked him whether he knew that
 he was committing an illegal act by selling above the MRP. He said
that they have to sell above MRP because of "airport taxes".

When I asked for a bill, he gave me a bill which did not have the
name of the item on it. It said "Power failure" and "Item 1 --- Rs 30".
When I said I would not accept this, he gave me another bill with
just "Juice --- Rs 30" printed on it.

I then asked him to give me a hand made bill mentioning clearly the
exact item that I'd bought, the printed price of the item I'd bought,
and what were the exact taxes and amounts that were being
charged. The person refused. I asked him to call hi s manager. He
said his manager would come in half an hour, knowing full well that
no passenger will miss his flight waiting for the manager.

I asked for the name and phone number of his manager, but he
refused again. I continued asking him while he was c ontinuing to
serve other people . Then I told him that I would take out my camera
and take his photograph and take that as proof. Finally, he called
his supervisor, a Mr. Prakash (9845482108) .

The supervisor came and I asked him for a hand written bill
mentioning the exact “taxes” that constituted the extra Rs 20 above
the MRP of Rs 10 . He refused to give me a bill as well. The
supervisor also pretended to be ignorant and said that he didn't
know anything, his manager set the prices, etc, but refused to giv e
me his manager's name/number as well.

Finally, I got him to write the name of the juice packet on the bill
itself with ink and made him stamp it. A copy of this is attached as
proof.

b. The cause of action for the complaint (i.e., what led you to file
the complaint before the Forum/Commission):

1. Overcharging is illegal under the Packaged Commodities Rules

(PCR), which states that any trader charging more than the
MRP mentioned on the package can be prosecuted. This is a
clear case of overcharging, with do cumented proof. Such
rampant overcharging is unscrupulous exploitation of
consumers and must be stopped.
2. On 5 th March, 2007, the Delhi High Court upheld the right of
hotels and restaurants to charge customers higher than the
MRP for a bottle of mineral wat er as the customer is being
charged extra for the “ambience” of the place. However, the
shop in question is neither a “hotel” nor a “restaurant” but a
shop in the premises of the Bangalore airport, and the ambience
is provided for by the airport authoritie s for which other taxes
 are levied as applicable with the ticket. Hence this is no cause
for this shop to overcharge on packaged goods.
3. A proper bill was not given by the shop. First the trader gave a
bill saying "Power failure" and "Item 1 --- Rs 30", after insisting
he gave a bill mentioning “ Juice --- Rs 30". There was no
mention of the name of the Packaged Commodity, the MRP, the
nature and amount of taxes that have been added to reach a
total of Rs. 30. This is quite clearly illegal. As a consumer I ha ve
a right to get a proper bill, explaining all prices and taxes which
has to be given by the trader on demand. No trader can refuse
to give a bill for sale of legal goods.

c. The place where the complaint originated to explain

jurisdiction of the forum applied to:

Departure Lounge, Bangalore Domestic Airport, Bangalore

d. Statement that the complaint is filed within the limitation

period. If not explain how delay was condoned by the Forum:

The incident occurred on 10th March, 2007. The complaint before

the Honourable Forum is being filed on , 2007. Hence it is
within the limitation period.

5. In the circumstances, the complainant prays that this Honourable

Forum / Commission may be pleased to direct the Opposite Party –

To pay the following amounts as compensation:

1. Excess amount charged over MRP: Rs 20

2. Cost of filing a complaint at the District Consumer Forum: Rs
100
3. Cost of printing and photocopying: Rs 36
4. Cost of travel to/from District Consumer Forum and Consumer
Courts: Rs 200
5. Compensation for personal time and effort spent on pursuing
the complaint: Rs 5000

In addition to the above monetary compensations, I appeal to this Honourable

Forum/ Commission to pass order or orders intended to penalize the
aforementioned trad er for this offence, to prevent the re -occurrence of such an
offence by the same trader, and to serve as a deterrent for other traders from
committing the same offence.
 Verification

I, |||||| |||||||| ||||||||||||, the complainant above named do hereby declare that what
is stated above in Paras 1 - 4 is true to the best of my knowledge information and
belief.

Dated at Bangalore, this day of April, 2007.

Signature of the Complainant

List of documents filed with the complaint:

Sl. No. Date Particulars Page Nos.

1 10/03/2007 Photocopy of Item 1
bill
2 11/04/2007 Photocopy of 2
complaint letter to
Department of
Commercial
Taxes, Karnataka