Mumbai central Shagun Veg restaurant’s urge to earn extra 10 has led it to face the heavy fine of Rs 2 lakhs. District Consumer Forum has levied an exemplary cost of Rs 2 lakh on a restaurant which used to charge Rs 10 extra over the MRP.
The incident is of six-year back in which a man bought icecream from the Shagun Veg Restaurant. They charged him Rs 175 while the MRP mentioned on the ice-cream was Rs 165.
Consumer forum has held the restaurant guilty of being indulged in unfair trade practices. The forum said that it has certainly made a profit by levying an excessive charge on innocent customers as it has been in the business for nearly 24 years and making Rs 40,000- 50,000 on daily basis.
“In order to curb such unscrupulous trade practices by restaurants and shops and for the benefit of customers, the principle of fear of deterrence must be addressed,” observed the consumer forum and levied Rs 2 lakh fine.
On June 8, 2014, Mumbai Police sub-inspector Bhaskar Jadhav, was returning to his home and entered the Shagun Veg restaurant to buy ice-cream for the guests. He was surprised to see that they have charged him 10 extra over the MRP price. He objected at the time but restaurant dismissed his objection.
Justifying the act, the restaurant stated, “the extra charge was levied as it had incurred cost for storing the ice-cream. The shops and restaurants are different.”
To which the forum replied, “the complaint had not used their services such as asking a waiter to get water, using furniture, or using cutlery for having the ice-cream. Therefore, the extra charge was unjustified.”
