It seems to be a bad time phase for restaurant chains and hotels in India as days after the JW Marriott Banana controversy, another popular name is making news for all the wrong reasons.
A consumer disputes forum has ordered popular south Indian chain Saravana Bhavan to pay Rs 1.10 lakh to a Supreme Court advocate as compensation for alleged deficiency in serving food to him.
The order has been issued by the Tamil Nadu State Consumer Disputes Reddressal Commission as “compensation for mental agony” suffered by the complainant SK Saamy
In his complaint, Saamy asked for total compensation of Rs 90 lakh “for ill-health, severe mental agony and other hardships” faced from “food poisoning” on October 2014, after he consumed food at the restaurant’s Anna Salai outlet in the city.
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He said that he found strands of hair in the food and upon taking it up with the outlet, he was provided with an alternative meal. After few hours of taking the food, he started feeling severe stomach pain, vomiting and nausea, besides developing fever and rashes on his body.
Later he was admitted to a government hospital ICU ward “and according to the doctor, was suffering from food poisoning.” He charged Saravana Bhavan with being “guilty of having served defective food,” and prayed for a compensation of Rs 60 lakh for “deficiency in service” and another Rs 30 lakh for ill-health and mental agony.
As a final result, Saravana Bhavan is directed to pay Rs 1 lakh to the complainant as compensation for mental agony and other hardships and also Rs 10,000 as cost of litigation,” the Commission said.