Pet owner drags Zomato to court over missing dog

A week after her two-month-old pet dog was allegedly taken away by a food delivery executive, Vandana Shah has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in Bombay High Court (HC) against food aggregator Zomato. Her plea is that identification documents, like Aadhaar, of delivery executives should be made available to customers.

In the PIL moved on Monday, Shah has urged that while delivery professionals possess all details of those who have placed the orders, the latter have nothing on them.

Shah’s pet beagle, Dottu, went missing on October 7 from her factory-cum-residential premises on Karve Road. She and her family took to social media, requesting help to trace the puppy. A day after the pet went missing, she was able to find out that Dottu had been taken away by a food delivery executive. She managed to track down details of the person in question and called him.

According to her petition, a person identified as Tushar Mengade said he was working with Zomato and that he had left Dottu at his native place. She and her family made several calls to Tushar, requesting him to return the pet, she said, adding that he switched off his phone by late evening that day.

At this point, Shah took to social media, reaching out to Zomato for help. The petition stated that Zomato responded with a generic message, without any proper commitment. Further, they also did not give out the contact number of anyone on their side who could be reached for further help. A day later, Vandana and her family “somehow managed to convince Tushar to share the address of where the dog has been kept”.

“After 53 hours of follow-up, Dottu was finally rescued from Mulshi, which is around 40-50 km from where he was kidnapped. Zomato cleans up its record and puts out a statement 60 hours later, claiming that Tushar does not work with them. This at best can be termed an ugly whitewash and at worst a disgusting show of wealth/power and clamping of human rights,” the petition has stated. Apart from seeking that identity documents of delivery executives are shared with customers, Shah has also pleaded that there should be a way for customers to contact Zomato directly. As of now, customers can send a request for help on their website or app, following which the company calls them back.

The PIL stated that though they could rescue their pet after incessantly pleading with the delivery executive, Zomato cannot shirk its responsibility. “The employer can be made vicariously liable and accountable for the acts done by their employees towards general public in the course of their work,” the petition has said.

It went on to add, “There are no defined rules to regulate the identity of delivery staff of the private entity. Also, no efforts are made to ensure the safety of our life and limb, as delivery staff enters private premises of its customers. This is covered by Article 21of Constitution of India.”

Speaking to Mirror, Shah said, “I will make sure that the incident I experienced doesn’t repeat with anyone else. Last week, it was my dog who was picked up. I cannot imagine how traumatising it could be if a child is taken away by such a person in this manner.”

Moreover, alleging that Zomato in no way helped the Shah family with any leads about so-called delivery executives, the petition mentioned, “The numbers provided by Zomato don’t work and it cannot escape accountability. In the past as well, there have been numerous negative incidents. It is a habitual offender. The safety of women, children and animals is at stake due to Zomato’s negligence.”

Shah has now launched a campaign on Twitter with the hashtag #uninstallzomato, appealing to her close friends and family not to use the food aggregator’s services. She feels that after the latest incident, Zomato should donate in penance towards the welfare of animals, and her petition stated, “Rs 120 crore should be donated towards animal welfare charities.”

Commenting about this development, a Zomato spokesperson said, “We haven’t received any summons to this effect. We deeply empathise with the trauma of having a pet missing and are glad to hear that Dottu is back. We conducted our due diligence, and after 48 hours of thorough investigations within our database, delivery partner network and liaising with the police, we can confirm that the alleged person is not a part of our delivery fleet.”

Qualified as a lawyer, Shah will be arguing the petition in person. It is scheduled to be heard on October 21.

Source:- https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/food-services/pet-owner-drags-zomato-to-court-over-missing-dog/71614171