Online food delivery platform Zomato and fast food chain McDonald's have been jointly fined ₹1 lakh by Jodhpur's District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum for delivering non-vegetarian food in place of a vegetarian food order to the customer who received the incorrect food parcel.
The consumer has been awarded ₹5,000 as the cost of litigation. Both the monetary penalty and cost of litigation are to be borne jointly by Zomato and McDonald’s.
The District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum (II) Jodhpur has imposed a penalty of ₹1 lakh for violation of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 on Zomato and McDonald's, the restaurant partner whose food was delivered through it, and awarded ₹5,000 as cost of litigation, according to news agency PTI.
"Both monetary penalty and cost of litigation are to be borne jointly and severally by Zomato and McDonald's," it added.
The case pertains to a customer who placed an order from McDonald’s. The order was delivered through Zomato, but the customer realised they had received a non-vegetarian parcel in place of the vegetarian items ordered.
Meanwhile, Zomato said it "is in the process of filing an appeal against the said order and based on the advice from its external counsels, Zomato believes it has a good case on merits."
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Zomato said it "is in the process of filing an appeal against the said order and based on the advice from its external counsels, Zomato believes it has a good case on merits."
{{/usCountry}}Zomato in its filing said that according to their terms of service, the food delivery platform is merely a facilitator for the sale of food and the restaurant partner is responsible for any issue in service, wrong delivery of order/order mismatch and quality.
"The order failed to appreciate the distinction in responsibility and imposed a joint and several monetary penalty on Zomato and McDonald's under the relevant provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019," the company said, adding that the order has no material financial, operational or any other kind of impact on it.
(With inputs from PTI)