Hyderabad: Captain Cook Restaurant at Ameerpet in the city was asked to pay Rs 20,000 as compensation to one of its customers after a cockroach crawled out of the biryani from one of their takeaway boxes.
The compensation was ordered to be paid by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Hyderabad-2, on April 18 based on a complaint filed by one M Arun against the manager of the restaurant.
In September 2021, Arun ordered a Chicken Biryani takeaway parcel from the restaurant. He then reached his workplace and sat to eat the meal. But to his disgust, he saw the insect crawling out of the food, seeing which he threw up. The incident killed his appetite for days, he said in his complaint.
He immediately took a video of the same, called the restaurant and informed them about it. But to his surprise, he heard an apology from the manager of the restaurant stating that pest control recently was underway at the place and had led insects to hide in places and one such roach might have landed in his box.
However, Arun refused to accept the apology stating that seeing the insect crawling in
the food killed his appetite for days. He further said that he won’t order anything from the place in the future and the manager of the restaurant repaid an amount of Rs 240 to him.
Arun then took the matter to the District forum where the restaurant denied allegations made by him stating that the meal in the takeaway box was fresh and hot. The establishment said that there was no chance of an insect staying alive at that temperature.
After hearing the details, the commission found the restaurant owners guilty and pointed out that they failed to maintain standards of cleanliness and hygiene. The commission also said it was evident from the videos that a cockroach had indeed crawled out.
“The OP acted in a negligent manner in providing hygienic food to its customers,” stated the commission.
An additional Rs 10,000 was slapped on the restaurant for the costs incurred while the commission directed the guilty to pay the fine within a period of 45 days.
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