Consumer court holds e-retail platform guilty

Sambalpur: The Sambalpur consumer court on Monday held an e-commerce platform guilty of deficiency in service and unfair trade practice after a customer received a marble stone in place of a laptop he had ordered.The court directed the company to pay Rs 60,799, the cost of the laptop, Rs 25,000 as compensation for negligence in service, and Rs 5,000 as additional compensation to the complainant.The complainant, Dr Chaubarga Nayak, who runs a clinic near the Sambalpur district headquarters hospital, had ordered a laptop online on Feb 4, 2025, after paying Rs 61,000 in advance. The consignment was delivered on Feb 12.Suspecting something unusual after examining the package, Dr Nayak recorded a video while opening it — only to find a large marble stone inside instead of the laptop.Advocate Pritish Debata, who represented Nayak during the proceedings, said he immediately contacted the online retailer but did not receive any satisfactory response. He later filed a written complaint at the Town police station and subsequently approached the consumer court seeking compensation.A case was registered, and the matter was heard by consumer court president Dr Ramakanta Satapathy and member Sadananda Tripathy. After examining the evidence on record, the court ruled in favour of the complainant.