ITC Maurya ordered to pay Rs 2 crore compensation to woman for wrong haircut at hotel salon in 2018

The hotel ITC Maurya has been directed to pay Rs 2 crores as compensation by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC). The NCDRC has directed the five-star Delhi hotel to pay the amount to a woman for a wrong haircut and treatment given to her by staff at a salon at the hotel in 2018. The complainant, Aashna Roy, was a model and had taken assignments for modelling hair products from VLCC and Pantene in the past. She had alleged that the wrong haircut left her “with little or almost no hair”. ITC Maurya has been given a duration of eight weeks to pay the amount to Roy, in service of the Consumer Protection Act. Justice RK Agrawal and Dr SM Kantikar passed the order, saying that women are very careful with regards to their hair and spend a huge amount on keeping it in good condition. The order read that the complainant lost several assignments due to “hair cutting against her instructions by the opposite Party No.2 (ITC Hotels Ltd)”, which completely shattered her dream to become a model. The hotel was also charged with medical negligence by the order. The incident occurred in 2018 when Roy had gone to the salon of the ITC Maurya for getting a haircut. Since her regular stylist was not available, the staff provided her with another hairstylist. The stylist cut Roy’s hair against what she had asked for. It then offered her free hair treatment. According to Roy, the treatment was “dubious”. The treatment allegedly resulted in Roy’s scalp being burnt, which caused permanent damage to her hair. As per her complaint, she still experiences allergy and itching due to the treatment. The respondents in the case had submitted that the compensation claimed by Roy was “ex-facie exaggerated and without any basis’, adding that the amount claimed by her (Rs 3 crore) was inflated deliberately to invoke the court’s jurisdiction and that the “complaint is liable to be dismissed for want of pecuniary jurisdiction”. Roy had claimed that the permanent damage caused to her hair had led to a mental breakdown. She also alleged that she suffered from loss of income as she had to quit her job, adding that she underwent “pain and trauma” for the past two years.