Chandigarh restaurant told to pay Rs 30,000 for broken tooth

Tribune News Service

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, October 20

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, has directed a restaurant at Elante to pay compensation of Rs 30,000 to a city resident after his one tooth was broken due to hard substance found in pasta while eating. The commission also directed the restaurant to pay Rs 23, 000 the complainant spent on the treatment of his tooth.

Sumit Kumar, a resident of Sector 37, in a complaint filed through advocate Amit Chaudhary, said that he along with his wife visited Boathouse, Elante, to celebrate their wedding anniversary on February 18, 2021, and ordered food, snacks and drinks.

Kumar said that while eating pasta, some hard substance got stuck in his tooth giving immense pain. He was shocked to see his broken tooth and bleeding therein due to the hard substance. He rushed to the washroom to clean the blood from his mouth and when he came back he saw that the pasta plate with the broken tooth and the substance was not on the dining table.

The manager felt sorry for the incident and assured that the medical expenses would be paid by the restaurant.

Kumar said that he left the place in pain and visited a dental medical care in Sector 37 for the treatment. Next day he visited the restaurant and demanded it to pay the medical expenses of Rs 23,500. Instead of refunding the medical expenses, the restaurant offered food vouchers/coupons which he declined to accept.

Later, a legal notice was sent to the restaurant. The commission said that despite giving notices and opportunities, nobody appeared on behalf of the restaurant. Hence, the restaurant proceeded ex-parte vide order dated April 6, 2022.

After hearing the arguments, the commission comprising Priti Malhotra presiding member and Brij Mohan Sharma member held the restaurant guilty of deficiency of services and unfair trade practice. The commission said that the restaurant not only failed to serve safe food as per the prescribed standards under the ‘Food Safety and Standards Act 2006’ but also rendered deficient services coupled with unfair trade practice.

The restaurant not only failed to compensate the complainant for the pain he suffered due to the negligent act but also did not even refund the amount spent by the complainant on the treatment for the broken tooth. Also, the restaurant failed to appear to contradict the allegations set out in the complaint despite being duly served, the commission said.

In view of this, the complaint is allowed with direction to the restaurant to refund amount of Rs 23,500 to the complainant paid by him towards treatment of the broken tooth and also to pay composite amount of Rs 30,000 as compensation for rendering deficient/negligence services coupled with unfair trade practice for causing mental and physical harassment as also for litigation expenses, the  commission said.

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