Bengaluru: A Bengalurean won a case against Kentucky Fried Chicken’s (KFC) outlet for denying free water to customers. Thanks to that one customer who took it up, now Bengalureans need not pay for water as the consumer court has directed all the multiplexes and restaurants in and around the city to provide clean drinking water for free.
According to a report published in Bangalore Mirror, Bengaluru resident, 47-year-old Sudha Katwa was denied free water at KFC outlet in Yeshwantpur and was told to buy bottled drinking water on May 29, 2016. She then approached Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which is the licensing authority of all the restaurants. She lodged a complaint stating that since water is a fundamental right of every citizen it should be available for free in all the restaurants compulsorily. Following no action from the officials, she went to court on October 1, 2016 and demanded a compensation of Re 1. She also asked the court to direct BBMP and KFC to provide free drinking water to all the visitors.
The complainant Sudha argued that like hospitals, railway stations and bus stops, the restaurants should provide free water quoting a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) order in 2015.
The Bangalore Urban District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum (DCDRF), pronouncing the verdict on April 6, said, “We direct OP-2 (BBMP) to ensure that all the multiplexes, restaurant and eatery houses in the limits of BBMP provide free clean drinking water to all the consumers/customers throughout the year. OP-2 shall report the compliance to the forum within 60 days.” NCDRC bench headed by Justice V K Jain, said, “Water being a basic necessity for human beings, it is obligatory for the cinema halls to make it available to the movie-goers in case they decide not to allow the drinking water to be carried inside the cinema hall.”
The observation further read, “It is pertinent to note here that though she (Sudha) alleges unfair trade practice and deficiency of service on the part of the opposite party OP-1 (KFC), she has sought compensation of Re 1 only. Therefore, one cannot allege that the complainant has come up with a false complaint with an oblique motive to extract money. Though OP-1 claims that they provide free drinking water to consumers, didn’t provide any credible evidence to believe.”
KFC, however denied the charge and said that since it was a self-service restaurant chain and supplementary articles like water and ketchup are provided on demand to the customer at the counter. But they failed to produce any evidence which led to the verdict to be given in favour of the complainant. The court has directed KFC to provide Re 1 compensation and Rs 5,000 as compensation towards complainant’s legal expenses.
Meanwhile, L. Verma speaking on behalf of KFC, in a statement said, “As a responsible corporate citizen, KFC follows all government laws and regulations. We will abide by the Honorable court’s decision in this case. We would like to reiterate that as a company policy, we offer free drinking water to customers across all our restaurants.”
