Ludhiana District Commission Holds 'Behrouz Biryani', Swiggy Liable For Delivering Non-Veg Biryani Instead Of Veg

Brief Facts:

The Complainant, a pure vegetarian girl following Hindu beliefs, ordered Spicy Subz-E-Biryani (Hyderabadi Veg Biryani) from Behrouz Biryani. The order was delivered at 5:39 PM through Swiggy. Upon opening the box, she discovered it contained Lazeez Bhuna Murgh (Chicken Biryani Boneless), a non-vegetarian dish. This error caused her significant distress, as the smell of chicken made her feel nauseous. She immediately contacted Swiggy's customer care, which apologized and refunded her payment. Despite raising the issue on Twitter and emailing Behrouz Biryani on January 16, 2022, she received no satisfactory response. Behrouz Biryani offered a complimentary biryani in good faith. The Complainant felt this offer failed to address the emotional and religious harm caused. She claimed to have suffered mental harassment and emotional distress due to the negligent service. Consequently, she sent a legal notice on January 29, 2022, through her advocate but received no effective response. Feeling aggrieved, the Complainant filed a consumer complaint in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Ludhiana, Punjab (“District Commission”).

In response, Behrouz Biryani contended that the Complainant was trying to harass and extract money, even after receiving the full refund for the wrong item. Behrouz Biryani further stated that it had not been given a chance to inspect the food order physically. Therefore, there was a doubt on the complaint's authenticity. Despite notice, Swiggy did not appear before the District Commission for the proceedings.

Observations by the Commission:

The District Commission held that Behrouz Biryani could not effectively counter the Complainant's claims and offered a weak defence by simply stating that she had received a refund of Rs. 164/-. The District Commission noted that the refund did not mitigate the Complainant's suffering, mental agony, and harassment. It observed that even non-hospitable eateries usually become more courteous when realizing their mistakes, and this case was no exception to such unfair practices often adopted by eateries or food service providers.

The District Commission referred to Rules 5 and 6 of the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, which outline the liabilities of marketplace e-commerce entities (Swiggy) and the duties of sellers (Behrouz Biryani), prohibiting unfair trade practices and mandating the establishment of a consumer grievance redressal mechanism. However, in this case, after initially responding to a few emails, both Swiggy and Behrouz Biryani stopped communicating with the Complainant, flashing messages like 'Delivery incomplete' and 'Recipient inbox full', which constituted a deficiency in service. The District Commission found that the Complainant suffered significant mental tension, agony, and harassment, and her religious feelings were grievously hurt.

Considering these facts, the District Commission found it just and appropriate for Swiggy and Behrouz Biryani to jointly and severally pay composite costs of Rs. 50,000/- to the Complainant within 30 days from the date of receiving the order.

Case Title: Vasu Gupta vs Behrouz Biryani and Anr.

Case No.: Complaint No. 105 dated 17.03.2022

Advocate for the Complainant: Shri Chandan Rai Dhanda

Advocate for Behrouz Biryani: Shri Sachin Vasudeva

Date of Pronouncement: 23.07.2024