Consumer forum asks Taj Krishna to pay Rs 2.87 lakh compensation to Hyderabad resident

HYDERABAD: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum directed Hotel Taj Krishna to pay Rs.2,87,000 for causing a Hyderabad resident inconvenience and mental agony.

Dr. P.S.Gnaneswar(60), a Kothapet resident and doctor by profession, booked the marriage hall at the Taj Krishna hotel for his daughter's wedding on April 17, 2016.

He paid Rs.13,95,000 in cash for the lunch. He spent an additional Rs.31,500 for breakfast, Rs.3,00,000 for flowers and stage decoration, and Rs.1,000 for pandal erection (Tent) and arranging air coolers on an open lawn.

According to the agreement, Taj Krishna was supposed to hand over the hall to P.S.Gnaneswar by 6 a.m. on April 17, 2016. However, because the Hall was handed over late, it became challenging to organise sofa sets, chairs, and decoration, according to Dr. Gnaneshwar.

Dr. Gnaneshwar, who paid the hotel Rs.18,75,007 to arrange everything, was extremely disappointed as the hotel handed over the marriage hall at 7.30am and the open lawn at 10.30am, resulting in improper arrangements and utmost dissatisfaction in all aspects, including the serving of food in a proper and decent manner, as in a five-star hotel.

Dr. Gnaneshwar suffered mental agony as a result of the hotel's poor services and negligence, and his reputation in front of the wedding guests. The initial notice was handed to the Taj Krishna hotel on August 2, 2016, but it was returned with a left endorsement.

The Taj Krishna Hotel filed its written version, in which it denied Dr. Gnaneshwar's charges. They further denied that Dr. Gnaneshwar was not the person who had booked the hotel for the scheduled function. The hotel claimed that a person named Dr.P.Suguneswar had reserved the hall, hence the complainant was not the aggrieved party in this case.

The hotel authorities maintained that there was no shortage in the services given by them and that the arrangements for the function were made far ahead of schedule, with CCTV footage proving it.

They further claimed that until the celebration was over and the bill was settled, there was no mention of the alleged faults by Dr. Gnaneshwar, either before to or after the function.

The hotel authorities also contended that Taj Krishna Hotel is a reputed hotel at Road No. 1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, and it is a five-star hotel and a part of Taj Group Hotels. They also claimed that their hotel enjoys a unique credibility in the hotel field in the country due to the quality maintained by them, and thus requested that the complaint be dismissed because there was no deficiency of service on their part.

However, the consumer forum noted that the Taj Krishna hotel, which vigorously disputed all of the charges and presented the pleadings on the basis of reputation, failed to offer any documentation to refute the argument made in the complaint.

Despite claiming that all of the arrangements made were recorded on CCTV and that the hotel had CCTV recordings, the hotel failed to submit the CCTV recordings before the commission in order to disprove the complainant's allegations.

The court added that the hotel's failure to present the CCTV footage to the commission was sufficient evidence that the hotel lacked evidence to refute the petitioner's case.

The court also noted that the complainant is a doctor by profession, and thus his credibility and reputation cannot be questioned, and thus the Taj Krishna hotel's claims on various fronts, including impersonation by him in the array of the complainant, were dismissed. As a result, the court ruled in favour of Dr. Gnaneshwar.

The court ordered the Taj Krishna hotel to pay the complaint Rs.2,87,000 in compensation for inflicting hardship and mental anguish. The court also ordered the hotel to pay Dr. Gnaneshwar's litigation costs of Rs 20,000 within 45 days of receipt, failing which he is entitled to 9 percent interest on the compensation.