The complainant, Sunil Sharma, a resident of Sector 23, had purchased a juice caesar from Nik Bakers — a prominent bakery shop in the city dealing in cakes, pastries, cookies, chocolates and soft drinks.

He alleged that while Rs 40 was printed on the bottle as MRP, inclusive of all taxes, he was charged Rs 45.

On enquiring about the reason for the excess charge, he was told that the bill was computerised and that he had to pay accordingly.

Sharma also alleged that when he demanded the complaint book from the cashier, he was refused the same. Also, when he called for an audience with the manager, he was made to wait for over two hours.

Alleging the conduct of the bakery as amounting to unfair trade practice and deficiency in service, Sharma moved the consumer forum.

After notices were issued by the forum to the bakery store, Vinod Mittal, managing director of Nik Bakers, appeared in the court and sought time to file their reply.

Thereafter, he never appeared before the court or filed any reply and hence the case was proceeded against exparte. The forum, headed by President Jagroop Singh Mahal, said the bakers over-charged on the printed price for the bottle of the juice, which tantamounts to unfair trade practice.

The bakers have been directed to pay Rs 1,100 as penalty for the mental and physical harassment faced by the consumer in approaching the bakers for the refund of the excess amount. The complainant is also entitled to costs of litigation amounting to Rs 550, said the forum.

“All efforts made by the complainant to resolve the issue proved futile as they were reluctant to refund the excess price charged,” ruled the forum.

Non-bailable warrants issued against SBI manager

After the State Bank of India failed to comply with the orders of the consumer forum, wherein they were directed to pay Rs 20,000 as compensation on August 27 last year, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum today issued non-bailable warrants against the manager of SBI Card and Payment Service. The manager was also awarded imprisonment of six months under Section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act as per the warrant. It was also ruled that the manager submit a fine of Rs 5,000 and in default of this payment, he is liable to suffer further imprisonment of six months. While the SBI counsel stated that the bank had appealed before the State Commission, no evidence of the appeal could be produced before the court. In 2008, the complainant Bhupinder Singh Bindra was granted compensation for mental and physical harassment, which the bank was ordered to pay within 30 days from the date of the receipt of a copy of the order. The SBI was also directed to draft an appropriate performa for sending the monthly credit card statements and to ensure that only such amount should be mentioned under the column ‘minimum amount due’ and ‘total amount due’ that a client is required to deposit. It was also directed that in case, the card holder deposits an excess amount, it should be specifically mentioned.

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