Orders company to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation for supplying fake cement to customer

MALAPPURAM: District Consumer Commission ordered to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for supplying poor quality cement. A native of Muthuvallur in Kondotty, filed a complaint with the district consumer commission, alleging that the cement purchased for the construction of the house was of poor quality and there were fissures in the sunshade and the cement did not set.

The complainant purchased 30 bags of cement on September 23 in 2018 as part of the construction of a house after taking a loan from the bank. When the sunshade was made, it was found that the cement did not set and there were fissures in it also. After informed the cement shop, the owner asked the complainant to get a report from Kozhikode NIT and assured to find a solution from the cement company based on that. No solution could be found even after the NIT submitted the report finding it defective. Following that, a complaint was filed with the district consumer commission. As part of commission’s action, the assistant engineer of Kondotty municipality submitted a report after examining the place and the quality of the cement. The commission's inspection in August 2022 also reported that the cement had not set.

The commission after considering the evidence, ordered to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation and Rs 25,000 as court expenses to the complainant. JSW Cement Company has to pay the compensation. If the compensation is not paid within a month, 12 percent interest should be paid from the date of complaint. The order was passed by K Mohandas, president, Preethi Sivaraman and C V Muhammad Ismail. Advocate P V Manaf appeared on behalf of the complainant.