New Delhi: Supreme Court stays `2 cr as damages to model for wrong haircut

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed an order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) asking ITC to pay Rs 2 crore to a model as compensation for a faulty haircut at a hotel owned by the conglomerate.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia issued notice to model Aashna Roy on ITC’s appeal challenging the NCDRC award. The top court said quantification of the compensation has to be based on material evidence and not mere asking. The direction came on an appeal filed by ITC challenging an order of the NCDRC which had reaffirmed its September 21, 2021 direction to the company to pay Rs 2 crore as compensation.

Prior to this, the apex court had in February this year set aside the NCDRC order and asked the consumer panel to consider the issue after going through the material submitted by the model. The NCDRC on April 25 reaffirmed its earlier order after relying on e-mails and applications of proposed modelling and acting contracts presented by Roy. According to the model, she visited the salon at Hotel ITC Maurya, New Delhi on April 12, 2018 for hair styling.