Pakistan Post employees slapped with Rs95,000 fine for tampering with dried fruit parcel

A consumer court has ordered three Pakistan Post employees to pay Rs90,000 each in damages to a man after his parcel containing 10 kilogrammes of dried fruits was tampered with and its contents replaced with dust and garbage.

Judge Saifullah Phulpoto of Consumer Protection Court (South) directed respondents - Muhammad Waseem, Muhammad Abdullah and Muhammad Arshad - to pay Rs75,000 as compensation to complainant Muhammad Arshad for "faulty and defective services", and Rs15,000 each as litigation cost.

The judge ordered the three employees to deposit a Rs5,000 fine in the provincial government's kitty. Arshad through his lawyer Abdul Hanan had filed the claim in 2021, stating that on December 10, 2020, a parcel containing 10 kilogrammes of expensive dried fruits was booked from the Mansehra GPO for delivery to the Karachi Cantt HPO. He said the dried fruits were intended for his daughter's engagement ceremony, scheduled for December 20. However, he added that when he went to collect the parcel at the Karachi Cantt office on December 14, he discovered it had been tampered with and the dried fruits were missing, and the parcel had been filled with dust and garbage instead.

He said that a departmental inquiry was initiated by respondents -- Divisional Superintendent, Postal Services South, Divisional Superintendent Karachi Division, and Senior Post Master HPO Cantt -- and a recommendation letter issued on May 21, 2021 held the three employees responsible for alleged theft and asking them to pay Rs333 each (Rs1,000 total) to the complainant. He added the amount was nominal and unfair because the parcel of dried fruit was valued at Rs12,500. Upon their refusal to compensate the actual amount, the claimant said he sent them a legal notice and later filed the instant complaint.

Arsahd pleaded with the court to order the respondents to pay Rs500,000 each as compensation in respect of loss of dignity and damage to reputation because he was unable to serve dried fruits to the invited guests, which caused embarrassment in front of everyone. He further requested the court to order them to pay Rs50,000 as litigation cost as well as the cost of 10 kilogrammes of dried fruit.

In his detailed order, the judge observed that the three employees acted negligently and provided faulty services. "Courier service provider is under legal obligation to deliver the consignment in its original form when it is sent and if they fail to do so, they are guilty of non-delivery and such act of them falls within the category of deficiency in services," he observed.

He ruled that the complainant succeeded in establishing that the respondents provided faulty and defective services, causing financial damages and mental stress to him. The judge said that although the complainant had not produced any evidence to support his claim for damage to his reputation and dignity and claim of Rs500,000, a person somehow goes through some mental torture and agony when such circumstances arise. He pointed out that the complainant also failed to bring any material on record to show the actual damage done to him in respect of consignment shipped and tampered with. "It was obligatory on the part of the complainant to have disclosed the losses as claimed and prayed by him. Therefore, complainant would be entitled to receive a hypothetically assed amount of damages," he opined.

No one appeared on behalf of the three respondents who were held responsible for faulty service. A counsel who appeared on behalf of other three official respondents contended that the claim was not maintainable and liable to be dismissed for being filed after prescribed time. They said that the complainant booked the parcel without mentioning the commodity details and value of the goods and he did not get the parcel insured, adding that neither any value of the parcel was disclosed by the complainant nor the parcel was insured; hence, the compensation amount of Rs1,000 was according to prescribed rules.