Domino’s Pizza Slapped With ₹10 Lakh Penalty For Charging Customers For Carry Bags

After several state governments decided to go plastic-free, people have been carrying their own carry bags to stores in a bid to save the environment. But if at all we end up buying a carry bag from the stores these days, the price paid for it pinches us more than anything else, right? But as reported by India Today, the law holds that consumers ‘cannot’ be asked to pay for a carry bag.

The sub Section (5) of Section 36 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, states that ‘unless otherwise agreed, the expenses of and incidental to putting the goods into a deliverable state shall be borne by the seller.’ And if this law is violated, the seller has to pay a hefty fine for it. Well, this is what precisely happened with a Domino’s Pizza outlet in Chandigarh.

After a customer was wrongly charged Rs.14 (Rs.13.33) by the outlet for providing a carry bag to him, the company was asked to deposit Rs.9,80,000 as penalty in Poor Patient Welfare Fund (PPWF) apart from refunding Rs.14 each to two different consumers and paying Rs.1500 as compensation for ‘harassment, mental agony and litigation expenses.’

Pankaj Chandgothia, a lawyer by profession was asked to pay Rs.13.33 for a carry bag by the company following which he filed a complaint with the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II. Chandgothia had quoted the sub Section (5) of Section 36 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930 in his application to the forum.

When the matter reached the Chandigarh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the commission dismissed Jubilant FoodWorks Limited’s (parent company of Domino’s Pizza) appeal and asked it to pay the penalty and the compensation amount.

However, this isn’t that the first time that the company is slapped with such a hefty fine. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I in July this year had penalised Jubilant FoodWorks Limited Rs.5 lakh for charging Rs.14 (Rs.13.33) from another customer, suggested reports. The company had earlier filed an appeal against the District Consumer Forum saying “there was no law to prohibit sellers from charging for carry bags.”

Earlier a popular shoe store Bata was fined Rs.9000 for charging customer Rs.3 for a paper bag. Well, the next time a store charges you for a carry bag, you now know exactly what to do!