Tuesday 23 August 2016

‘Amrut’ increased weight, not height; company fined --- Forum tells firm to pay `17,500 to woman who turned fat

By Udumula Sudhakar Reddy

A city consumer forum has ordered an Ayurveda company to compensate a woman who gained about 6 kg weight after taking ‘Vikas Amrut Grow Height’, that was ostensibly meant to increase her height. The woman who consumed the ‘medicine’ became ‘shapeless’, the complaint said. The Hyderabad District Con-sumer Disputes Redressal Forum-3 ordered the Delhi-based Om Sai Ayurveda Limited to pay the woman Rs 17,500.

The complaint was filed by Bazaar Ghat resident M.A. Kareem on behalf of his wife. Mr Kareem said his wife Ms Basheer Sultana went by the claims of the company and ordered a course of Vikas Amrut Height Grow for her daughter. “My daughter used the medicine for two months. Instead of increasing her height, her weight increased by 5 to 6 kgs. She became shapeless,” the complainant said.

Mr Kareem telephoned the company and complained about the weight gain but was directed to contact several telephone numbers. Vexed with this, Mr Kareem complained to the Nampally police on February 19 last year. The sub-inspector contacted two telephone numbers of the company, and was told that the persons concerned would be duly informed.
The forum noted that the company pamphlets indicated that those who take Vikas Amrut Height Grow would become very tall and promised money back, it said.

The forum observed, “The exhibits produced by the complainant indicate the Ayurveda company clearly misled the minds of innocent consumers and thereby deceived them. The acts and deeds of the opposite party clearly constitute not only deficiency in service but it also unfair trade practice...” The forum directed the company not only to refund Rs 6,500, the cost of the product, but also pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 and costs of Rs 1,000. 

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