Junk in Coca Cola bottle, company to pay Rs 25K compensation

Leading beverage company Coca Cola India has been asked by a consumer court to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation to a person who had found junk inside a soft drink bottle he had purchased.

"The junk inside the bottle is visible to the naked eye. Obviously, consumption of the contents of such a bottle by a human being could have proved injurious to one's health," the Delhi District Forum, comprising President J P Sharma and Members Premlata and S M Mazumdar, said.

"We direct the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages to pay to Sheela Rs 25,000 towards compensation and cost for the sale of defective goods to her which resulted in mental agony," the Forum said.

Haryana resident Sheela had approached the forum seeking Rs 5 lakh in compensation from the company for deficiency in service by providing her the defective product.

The company tried to wash off its hand, contending that the produced bottle was a spurious one and it was not sealed.

It further claimed that without there being a third-party tampering after the bottles have left its factory gate, it is highly improbable that any such "foreign material" could find its way into the bottle.

"In case, the plea of the company has been that the bottle produced before the Forum was spurious one having not been bottled and sealed by them, there was no point in their denial that it was consisting of some foreign material," the forum said while rejecting the contention.

The company also submitted that the real defect could not be determined unless it is referred to an appropriate laboratory.

The forum, however, said that it would have allowed the plea to send the bottle to the appropriate laboratory if the application for the same was moved by the company.

Sheela bought the Coca Cola bottle in 2007 for her personal consumption and moved the consumer court after finding junk in the bottle.