Maharashtra Consumer Commission Slapes fine of Rs. 1Lakh on Coca Cola
The Maharashtra State Consumer has asked Coca Cola, one of the international fizzy drinks manufacturer, its bottler and distributor to pay Rs. 1 lakh in damages to a consumer who found impurities in a bottle of soft drink that he had bought.
Chandrashekhar Paradkar, a resident of Shankar Nagar area here, filled a complaint with the Nagpur district Consumer Grievances Forum seeking compensation of Rs. 4 lakh after he found some solid objects inside a sealed bottle of a soft drink. He had bought six various brands of the soft drink-two bottles each of Mazaa, Coca Cola and Sprite from a shop near his house.
Based on that, the District Forum earlier gave a ruling after finding Coca Cola, its bottlers Superior Drinks Pvt. Ltd. and distributors Balaji Sales guilty of supplying drinks unfit for human consumption, which was upheld by the State Consumer Commission.
The District Forum had found objects resembling pieces of mosquito repellent mats floating inside the sealed bottle. Having conducted the tests by a Public Health Laboratory, they found the drink unfit for human consumption.
The District Forum came down heavily on the company saying multinational gaints would not be allowed to have a free run and exploit a poor country like India by manufacturing and marketing sub-standard products.
While giving its ruling, the District Forum relied upon the historic Donald versus Stevenson case, wherein heavy compensation had been awarded to a consumer, who had found rusted nails inside a bottle of ginger beer.
With reference to the above case, state the reliefs that could be given to an aggrieved consumer.

Explanation

If the consumer court is satisfied about the genuineness of the complaint, it can issue one or more of the following directions to the opposite party :
(i) To remove the defect in goods or deficiency in services.
(ii) To replace the defective product with a new one, free from any defect.
(iii) To refund the price paid for the product or the charges paid for the service.
(iv) To pay a reasonable amount of compensation for any loss of injury suffered by the consumer due to the negligence of the opposite party.
(v) To pay punitive damages in appropriate circumstances.
(vi) To discontinue the unfair/restrictive trade practice and not to repeat it in the future.
(vii) Not to offer hazardous goods from sale.
(viii) To withdraw the hazardous goods from sale.
(ix) To cease manufacture of hazardous goods and to desist from offering hazardous services.
(x) To pay any amount (not less than 5% of the value of the defective goods or deficient services provided), to be credited to the Consumer Welfare Fund or any other organisation/person, to be utilised in the prescribed manner.
(xi) To issue corrective advertisement to neutralise the effect of a misleading advertisement.
(xii) To pay adequate costs to the appropriate party.