NEW DELHI: Almost five years after he ate a

with an

in it at a McDonald’s India food outlet and fell sick, a Delhi resident is set to get Rs 70,000

after the Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission upheld the order of a district forum.

The state commission took a serious note of the fact that the American food giant had filed the appeal in April, which was after the expiry of limitation period that ended on March 1 and not mentioned the reason for the delay in its appeal.

McDonald’s had said that it had not received the order copy from the forum. “The only legitimate inference which can be drawn is that counsel for the appellant wanted to fool this commission by making an allegation in the air,” said member (judicial) O P Gupta. He added that the company’s counsel either not clear or he wanted to keep the commission in dark. “Such a conduct on the part of litigant is not appreciable and is to be curbed with heavy hand,” Gupta added and dismissed McDonald’s appeal.

Sandeep Saxena, who lives in a east Delhi, had gone to the McDonald’s outlet in GIP Mall, Noida, on July 10, 2014. He had ordered a ‘McAloo Tikki’ burger besides other stuff. Saxena realised there was an insect inside the burger after he took a bite, following which he started vomiting. To his utter shock, when he opened the burger, he saw an insect which looked like an ant, or a mosquito, or a cockroach.

When Saxena’s vomiting did not stop, he approached the outlet’s manager. On his problem not being addressed, he first called police and then district magistrate office, from there he got the number of the food inspector concerned. The inspector visited the mall and took the burger for testing. Saxena, in the meantime, went to a hospital to get his vomiting treated. A lab report from the office of Food Safety and Medicine Administration had concluded that the sample was “unsafe” and suggested that there was a dead insect inside the burger.

The food chain, through its counsel, argued, “No complaint or FIR was lodged though the complainant made a PCR call, no notice had been received by the company from the food inspector... It required a detailed cross examination of the witness.”

The district forum subsequently ordered McDonald’s to compensate Saxena with Rs 895, which he had spent on treatment; Rs 50,000 towards mental agony and Rs 20,000 towards cost of litigation. The order was to be complied with within 60 days from the receipt of the order copy and in case of non compliance McDonald’s was asked to pay 9% interest on the compensation amount.