Mumbai: Liquor supplier slapped with Rs 50,000 fine for selling stale beer

Complainant had bought the bottles for her birthday party. Representation pic

The state excise department has levied a fine of Rs 50,000 on a liquor supplier for giving five outdated beer bottles to a woman for her birthday party. The complainant, Bhakti Bhosle had purchased the bottles from the liquor section of Vashi HyperCity on October 18, 2016. All of the bottles had expired in July 2016.

mid-day had on October 21 reported about the same in ‘Stale beer takes fizz out of Navi Mumbai resident's birthday party'. Upon realising that bottles she got were outdated, Bhosle lodged a complaint with the state excise department.

"We received a complaint against the wine shop in October. Accordingly, a show cause notice was issued to the liquor shop. Not satisfied with the reply from the wine shop owner, the department went ahead and levied penalty of Rs 50,000 for the same," said NN Patil, superintendent of the Thane excise department. Bhosle expressed satisfaction with the action taken by the excise department and claimed to pursue the matter with the consumer court.

Rahul Sheravat, manager, Manoj Wines said, "We indeed regret the inconvenience caused to Ms Bhonsale. The crate of expired beer had actually been kept aside to be discarded, however one of our staff members erroneously picked up that stock. We have taken strict action against the same to ensure this is never repeated as we take our customer service very seriously."

"Even Ms Bhonsale will agree that we made good and did exchange her product for the appropriate kind, once this was brought to our notice. We also commit to fulfil the penalty as levied. We hope this action showcases, in good faith, how we indeed adhere to the law and proudly so." Bhosle refuted the statement and said that the shop didn't exchange any product to compensate for their mistake.