Online food aggregator Zomato and an eatery in Pune were slapped with a fine of Rs 55,000 for delivering a non-vegetarian food to a lawyer, who was observing fast, twice.
Shanmukh Deshmukh, who works in Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, used to fast on Thursdays, as he believed in Gajanan Maharaj, Times of India reported. To break the fast, he ordered a paneer dish on May 31 last year but instead was delivered a chicken dish. Since the curries of both the dishes look similar, he could not differentiate and ate the food. Later, he connected with the delivery partner and the hotel and was ensured that the parcel will be changed and paneer will be delivered. However, he was again delivered the chicken dish .
A couple of days later, he sent a legal notice to Zomato and Preet Punjabi Swad hotel seeking compensation for hurting his religious sentiments by deliberatly sending him non-veg food. He then knocked the door of consumer court demanding Rs 5 lakh for faulty services and Rs 1 lakh for harassment.
A bench of the Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in Pune directed Zomato, the online food delivery provider, along with eatery, to pay the entire fine within 45 days or with 10 per cent later.
The Consumer Court’s verdict triggered a barrage of reactions on social media
A section of netizens welcomed the forum’s verdict saying it would discourage such errors in the future.
Some opined that Zomato should not have been held responsible as they only deliver packaged food
Zomato shouldn’t have been fined. We want our food not to be touched or seen by the delivery person designated by Zomato then how can we expect them to check if the food delivered matches the order and is of good quality.
— Kanisshka Tyagi (@kaytyagi) July 8, 2019
Others, in their tongue-in-cheek response, just wished why couldn’t they get such surprises
