Complaints made to the authorities on social media cannot be seen as lacking in gravity as opposed to formal written complaints, the Telangana High Court observed recently..Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya added that customer feedback on social media is an accepted mode of complaint. The judge made the observations while dismissing a catering stall operator’s plea against termination of his contract by South Central Railway.“Complaints/customer feedback on social media is an accepted mode of registering complaints against a service provider and the petitioner cannot adopt an ostrich policy in today’s time on the pretext that social media complaints do not deserve to be treated with seriousness,” the Court said..The operator’s contract had been terminated following a complaint made to the Railways on social media platform X. Various other complaints had also been made against the tea stall at Secunderabad Railway Station over poor quality of food.The Court found that the contractor had been given multiple opportunities to rectify the lapses, but failed to do so.“The impugned letter also mentions the petitioner’s involvement in acts of violence and lists five penalties imposed on the petitioner from 05.02.2024 till 09.10.2024 together with a warning letter on the complaints made by the customers on Twitter. The impugned letter makes it clear, on the face of it, that the Railway gave several opportunities to the petitioner to mend its ways before issuing the notice of termination on 07.11.2024.”.It thus concluded that the action was taken only after the contractor failed to stop continued deficiency in service. "The complaints are indeed serious in nature since they not only relate to poor quality of food but also food below the recommended weight and in excess of the prescribed rate," the Court said.Advocate Aadesh Varma represented the petitioner.Deputy Solicitor General Gadi Praveen Kumar and Advocate NVR Rajya Lakshmi represented the respondents..[Read Judgment]
Complaints made to the authorities on social media cannot be seen as lacking in gravity as opposed to formal written complaints, the Telangana High Court observed recently..Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya added that customer feedback on social media is an accepted mode of complaint. The judge made the observations while dismissing a catering stall operator’s plea against termination of his contract by South Central Railway.“Complaints/customer feedback on social media is an accepted mode of registering complaints against a service provider and the petitioner cannot adopt an ostrich policy in today’s time on the pretext that social media complaints do not deserve to be treated with seriousness,” the Court said..The operator’s contract had been terminated following a complaint made to the Railways on social media platform X. Various other complaints had also been made against the tea stall at Secunderabad Railway Station over poor quality of food.The Court found that the contractor had been given multiple opportunities to rectify the lapses, but failed to do so.“The impugned letter also mentions the petitioner’s involvement in acts of violence and lists five penalties imposed on the petitioner from 05.02.2024 till 09.10.2024 together with a warning letter on the complaints made by the customers on Twitter. The impugned letter makes it clear, on the face of it, that the Railway gave several opportunities to the petitioner to mend its ways before issuing the notice of termination on 07.11.2024.”.It thus concluded that the action was taken only after the contractor failed to stop continued deficiency in service. "The complaints are indeed serious in nature since they not only relate to poor quality of food but also food below the recommended weight and in excess of the prescribed rate," the Court said.Advocate Aadesh Varma represented the petitioner.Deputy Solicitor General Gadi Praveen Kumar and Advocate NVR Rajya Lakshmi represented the respondents..[Read Judgment]
