MADURAI: Thoothukudi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed a resort operator in Kodaikanal to pay compensation of Rs 4.80 lakh to a complainant due to deficiency in service, sources said on Tuesday.
Earlier, the complainant Kabilan Rathina Sabapathi of Dhanasekaran Nagar, Thoothukudi, paid a sum of Rs 3.20 lakh through an agency in Chennai towards a membership fee for the resort in Kodaikanal. After the membership, Sabapathi was allowed to stay in the resort without paying for maintenance for two years.
But within a year, the resort operator asked Sabapathi, who did not even spend his time in the resort, to pay maintenance costs.
Irked by this, Sabapathi demanded the resort operator to refund the membership fee as he was not content with the attitude. But, the operator refused to refund the maintenance fee.
The frustrated Sabapathi then took the issue to the legal body and subsequently, a legal notice was issued seeking action and even then, there was no response.
After examining, the President of the Commission Thiruneela Prasad and its members A Sankar and Namatchivayam directed the resort operator to refund the membership fee of Rs 3.20 lakh and Rs 1.50 lakh as compensation to the complainant for causing him mental agony and deficiency in service, along with Rs 10,000 towards cost of expenses, sources said.