Zomato, McDonald's fined Rs 1 lakh for delivering non-veg in place of veg

Online food ordering and delivery platform Zomato on Friday said a penalty of Rs 1 lakh has been imposed on it and restaurant partner McDonald's by the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum, Jodhpur, for alleged wrongful delivery of non-vegetarian food in place of a vegetarian food order.

The company is in the process of filing an appeal against the order, Zomato said in a regulatory filing.

The District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum (II) Jodhpur has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 lakh for violation of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 on Zomato and McDonald's, the restaurant partner whose food was delivered through it, and awarded Rs 5,000 as cost of litigation, it said.

"Both monetary penalty and cost of litigation are to be borne jointly and severally by Zomato and McDonald's," it added.

Further, Zomato said it "is in the process of filing an appeal against the said order and based on the advice from its external counsels, Zomato believes it has a good case on merits."

"The current litigation pertains to an alleged wrongful delivery of non-vegetarian food items in place of vegetarian food items," the company said.

The terms of service which govern Zomato's relationship with the customer clarify that Zomato is merely a facilitator for the sale of food and the restaurant partner is responsible for any deficiency in service, wrong delivery of order/order mismatch and quality, it added.

"The order failed to appreciate the distinction in responsibility and imposed a joint and several monetary penalty on Zomato and McDonald's under the relevant provisions of Consumer Protection Act, 2019," the company said, adding that the order has no material financial, operational or any other kind of impact on it.