PSUs, insurance firms face tough time in consumer fora in 2012

The children's hospital, affiliated to Lady Hardinge Medical College, and its doctor were held guilty by the commission of committing "sheer medical negligence" in

giving the HIV-infected blood to the then three-day-old child.

In another case, Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre was ordered by the NCDRC to pay Rs 50,000 to a woman who had contracted Hep-B due to transfusion of tainted blood to her during her cardiac surgery.

On what constitutes accidental death for availing benefits due to the same, a district consumer forum here held that death due to mosquito bite is accidental and the NCDRC ruled that a patient's death due to rash or negligent act of a doctor is also an accident.

The banking and financial services sector also came under the scanner of the consumer fora, which pulled them and their officials up on issues ranging from forceful seizure of vehicles bought on loan to leaking of customers' account details to a third party.

While HDFC Bank was directed by a district consumer forum to pay Rs three lakh as compensation to a borrower for seizing his car bought on loan without giving him notice, a Citi Bank branch manager was ordered by Delhi State Consumer Commission to pay Rs 15 lakh as compensation to a credit card holder for leaking his account details to a third party.

Electronics companies like Samsung, Nokia and Sony were pulled up for sale of defective goods to consumers as well as deficiency in after sales services provided to buyers.

In one case, Nokia was directed to pay Rs 67,000 for selling a defective mobile handset and failing to repair it.

Eating joints, be it a local sweet shop or a food lounge run by a luxury hotel chain in the IGI airport here, were made to compensate their customers for serving sub-standard food.

... contd.

ALSO READ

COAI plans to seek cancellation of 19 GSM permits of Tata Tele

Local search engine Just Dial's Rs 950-cr IPO opens tomorrow

Indians more willing to share personal info than others: Cisco report

Crisil asks for more policy and regulatory reforms