Consumer Forum Asks Bata To Provide Free Paper Bag

Asking customers to pay a fee for paper bags will end soon as a consumer court has directed Bata India to provide them free of cost.

The direction came as the court in Chandigarh slammed Bata for asking a customer to pay Rs 3 for a paper bag.

Acting on a complaint filed by a customer, the consumer court also directed Bata to pay Rs 9,000 to the consumer for deficiency in services.

In his complaint, Chandigarh resident Dinesh Prasad Raturi, told the consumer forum that he had purchased a pair of shoes on February 5 from a Bata store located in Sector 22D. The store charged him Rs 402, which also included charges for the paper bag. Raturi told the forum that by charging him for the bag, Bata was also endorsing its brand on the bag which was not justified.

The complainant sought a refund of Rs 3 and compensation for deficiency in services. Countering this, Bata India refuted the allegations of deficiency in services.

The forum said compelling a customer to pay for a paper bag was a clear deficiency in service as it was the store’s duty to provide a free bag to the customer who had purchased their product.