NEW DELHI: A six year long legal dispute between online retail giant Amazon and a law student has finally come to an end with the former being fined a penalty amounting to Rs 45,000 to be paid to the student.
The case was filed in 2014 by Supriyo Ranjan Mahapatra, a law student, for an unfair trade practice he faced on the Amazon website. Mahapatra had come across an offer on Amazon that allowed him to purchase a laptop worth Rs 23,499 for a mere price of Rs 190.
Mahapatra was contacted by the Amazon Customer Care Service Department within two hours of placing the order, who informed him that his order was cancelled. The service cited a price recession issue for the order, as reported by Bar and Bench.
Mahapatra needed a laptop urgently and was reportedly disappointed by the cancellation of the order. Mahapatra decided to send a legal notice to Amazon and even filed a complaint before the District Forum seeking Rs 50,000 as compensation for mental agony and Rs 10,000 as the cost of trial.
Amazon challenged the complaint stating that the agreement was between a third-party seller on its website and the consumer, which in turn kept Amazon out of the legal equation.
However, the District Forum did not agree with Amazon's reasoning and held them guilty for negligence in its service as well as unfair trade practice. The forum argued that the student had already accepted Amazon's online offer and opted for a payment method. Amazon was ordered to pay a compensation amounting to Rs. 10,000 to Mahapatra and Rs. 2,000 to the District Forum.
Mahapatra, however was not satisfied with the forum's ruling and approached the Odisha State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission for compensation amount he initially sought. The Commission too reached the same decision as the District Forum and increased the amount to be paid for penalty.
The Commission said, "When there is advertisement made for offer placed by the OP (Amazon) who is a reputed Online Shopping Website and made offer as per the materials available on record and the complainant placed the order and same has been confirmed, the agreement is complete between the parties," the State Commission ruled as per the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
The Commission also mentioned that Amazon cannot shed any responsibility in the issue as the retailer was functioning on its platform. The Commission found Amazon liable to pay penalty for a breach of contract once it is done.
The Commission then increased the amount to be paid as damages by Amazon to Rs 30,000 as compensation for unjust trade practice. In addition, Amazon has to pay a sum of Rs 10,000 as punitive compensation and a hearing cost of Rs. 5,000.
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