South Indian shopping mall fined Rs.10,000 for lying over Pattu Saree

Hyderabad: The Alternate Consumer Dispute Redressal Cell State Consumer Information Centre directed the authorities of South India shopping Mall in Hyderabad to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to their customer for selling a wrong product.

After observing a newspaper advertisement in a regional newspaper two months ago, the complainant Ganji Srinivasa Rao, an RTI activist, visited South India Shopping Mall in Kothapet area along with his family on July 20.

In the advertisement, South India Shopping Mall stated that customers could now buy 1 kg of pattu sarees for Rs 1,800 and 1 kg of fancy sarees for Rs 1,100 during Ashadam sale.

His wife, G Vimala, selected a pattu saree from the mall. Only when she gave the saree for stitching its blouse, did the couple realise that they were cheated. The mall had sold them a polyester saree instead of a pattu saree.

Soon after learning that they were cheated, Srinivasa Rao decided to lodge a complaint against them for selling the wrong saree. He filed the complaint in October 2019 in Telangana consumer redressal information centre in Somajiguda, premises of Commissioner of Civil supplies department.

After approaching the consumer forum, the Alternate Consumer Dispute Redressal Cell State Consumer Information Centre directed the authorities of South India shopping Mall in Hyderabad to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to the customer. The forum also directed the Managing Director of South India Shopping Mall to replace the polyester saree with a pattu saree. The MD agreed to pay the compensation and replace the saree as well.

The judgement copy reads, “It is submitted that the above matter is settled between both parties. The respondents agreed to replace the new pattu saree along with an amount of Rs 10,000 paid to the complainant. Therefore, the above matter stands closed.”

Srikhande Umesh Kumar, a consumer protection activist, told NewsMeter, “Consumers can seek replacement if the products they purchased were defective, bad quality or not to the standard as mentioned. We have the right to choose quality goods and also the right to redressal.”