Court orders Britannia to pay compensation to consumer for selling underweight biscuits

THRISSUR: The consumer court has ordered Britannia Industries Limited to pay compensation to a consumer from Thrissur after the biscuit packet manufactured by the company was found to be underweight.

George Thattil, the customer, found a 300-gram biscuit packet to be deficient by 52 grams. He weighed a NutriChoice Arrowroot biscuit packet, which he bought from a bakery in Varakkara, out of curiosity. After noticing 52 grams less than the claimed 300 grams, he bought more packets and weighed them. After finding that every pack was underweight, he reached the legal metrology office in Thrissur with these biscuit packets. There, he weighed the packets again to confirm that the biscuit packets were below the weight printed on the label.

The court ordered the company to pay Rs 50,000 for financial loss and hardship of the complainant, Rs 10,000 towards expenses and interest at nine per cent from the date of the plea. The court also gave strict instructions to the company not to repeat such incidents. Moreover, the court also directed the Legal Metrology Department to conduct a wide-scale investigation to see if such incidents are taking place in the state.