Consumer Commission Imposes ₹40,000 Fine on Nik Baker’s Over Illness Caused by Birthday Cake.

Very recently Nik Baker's, a bakery in Panchkula, has been fined with ₹40,000 by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission for failing to maintain service quality. The order, issued on September is a result which alleging that a child fell ill after consuming a birthday cake purchased from the bakery.

In its judgment, the presiding commission noted that when such a serious allegation is made against a bakery, the commission has a duty to get the cake sample tested, which they failed to do.

In this case, the complainant had ordered the cake for the birthday of her son on July 3rd at Nik Baker's. However, while celebrating, they discovered that the cake had a color that was both inedible and unhygienic hence avoided consuming it. Unfortunately, by nightfall the complainant's son had fallen sick with vomiting and diarrhea and was visited by a doctor who confirmed the sickness was a result of consumption of unhygienic food.

On failure to receive a response to her emails, the complainant filed her consumer complaint. The bakery argued that no laboratory report was available to support the allegations, thereby proving that they operated under stiff quality control processes.

They also challenged the complainant on her side to have possibly not followed instructions provided for refrigeration leading to melting of cake icing and staining of the hands.

Despite the bakery’s defenses, the commission found that it was their duty to test the cake sample and faulted them for merely denying the allegations. The bakery’s argument that no one else at the party fell ill was dismissed because the cake was not consumed by others after the red dye was noticed.

Consequently, the commission directed Nik Baker's to refund the amount of cake ₹3,186 with interest. Further, the bakery was also penalized for the unfair trade practices to the tune of ₹30,000 payable out of which ₹20,000 would go to the Poor Patient Welfare Fund and ₹10,000 to the complainant as compensation for mental agony and litigation expenses, totaling to ₹40,000.

Published by Voxya as an initiative to help consumers in resolving consumer complaints.