IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE ALLEGATIONS OF CONTAMINATION AND ILLNESS, THE FINDINGS OF THE LOWER COURTS WERE NOT SUSTAINABLE.

Mr. Justice B.S. Yadav, Member—By this Revision Petition, Hamdard Wakf Laboratory (India) and Hamdard Dawakhana (Wakf) who were the Opposite Parties in the complaint filed by the present Respondent, Shri Vijay Kumar has challenged the order passed by the State Commission of Haryana at Chandigarh. In this order the parties will be referred to as they were arrayed in the complaint.

2. The Complainant, Shri Vijay Kumar had filed a complaint before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Ambala City alleging that he had purchased two bottles of Roohafza Sherbet at the rate of Rs. 27/- per bottle from M/s. Hakin Dhari Shah Di Hatti, Sadar Bazar, Ambala Cantt. (who had been arrayed as O.P. No. 4 in the complaint and who is Respondent No. 2 herein) on 7th May, 1991 against a cash memo for Rs. 54/-. Those bottles have been manufactured by the present Revision Petitioners. Both the bottles bear batch No. 9416 and the date of packing was mentioned as April, 1991. It is alleged that as soon as the Complainant used one bottle of Sherbet Roohafza he fell ill. The Complainant got himself checked up from a Doctor who opined that the use of Sherbet Roohafza was not quite fit for health. The Complainant saw something in the other sealed bottle of the Sherbet. It was some lizard type animal which had died and had emerged on the surface of the Sherbet. The Complainant reported the matter to the stockist from whom he had purchased the said bottle but he referred him to the agent. The agent asked the Complainant to wait for two-three days but till the filing of the complaint no response was received from the Manufacturers of the Sherbet. According to the Complainant, the Opposite Parties were making false advertisement and by their negligence were risking the lives of millions of Indian citizens who believe in their false publicity and daily consume lakhs of bottles of Sherbet Roohafza. The Complainant further alleged that he and his family members have suffered from skin disease by the use of the contaminated Sherbet and he had to spend a lot of money for the treatment of the disease.

3. Opposite Parties contested the complaint and pleaded that it was impossible that after using Sherbet Roohafza a person can fall ill. One batch consists of 3000 bottles and there had been absolutely no complaint from any of the consumers of the bottles of any batch. No bottle of Roohafza Sherbet which is once used is reused in any form. In a vain attempt to give some credence to a false story, the Complainant might have done some mischief by opening the bottle and inserting some object in the same and then sealing it. There is no possibility of some object getting into the bottle at the time of manufacturing or sealing it as the plant of Roohafza Sherbet is quite sophisticated having the most modern mechanism. The Sherbet is filtered thoroughtly at least through six thin filters before its being automatically packed in new and fresh bottles which are pre-washed and steamed. Filled bottles are checked again and then only final packing is done. The whole process is automatic and it is supervised so that the chances of contamination of the final product are negligible. Sherbet Roohafza is harmless and is free from any side effects. Other allegations of the Complainant were also denied.

4. The order of the District Forum is not on the file. However, from the order of the State Commission, it appears that the Complainant had succeeded before the District Forum which held that the bottle of Sherbet Roohafza did contain a lizard type animal. It was further held by it that the Complainant had failed to produce cogent evidence about the alleged ill effects by the consumption of the first bottle of the Sherbet and therefore, no compensation on that ground was granted. However, it further opined that such type of Sherbet if used, could be a hazard to the health of the public and the manufacturer should not have released such a product in the market and the dealer s