Rs 2 crore penalty for bad haircut: SC to hear Delhi five-star hotel's challenge on May 4

The Supreme Court will hear on May 4 ITC's plea against a Rs 2 crore fine for a bad haircut. (Representational image)

The Supreme Court on May 1 agreed to hear a Delhi-based five-star hotel’s appeal against a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission's (NCDRC) order, slapping a Rs two-crore penalty on it for giving a bad haircut to a model.

The case will be heard on May 4.

In 2018, Aashna Roy, an aspiring model, went to a salon at the ITC Maurya hotel in New Delhi for a haircut. She asked for her regular hairdresser but since she was not available, another stylist was assigned, the court was told.

She was shocked that the stylist, against her instructions, chopped her hair so short that it barely touched her shoulders, Roy said in her petition.

To compensate, the hotel offered her a free of cost hair treatment. The treatment turned her hair “hard and rough” and also left her scalp itchy and burnt, she claimed.

She approached the hotel staff and the management of ITC Group but to no avail. She filed a plea with NCDRC, alleging deficiency in service on ITC's part and sought a written apology and Rs 3 crore in compensation for harassment, humiliation and mental trauma.

While awarding a penalty of Rs 2 crore, NCDRC in 2021 held the hotel guilty of medical negligence and sabotaging Roy’s modelling career.

The hotel challenged the order in the Supreme Court, which in February 2023 upheld NCDRC's findings on negligence but set aside the compensation amount, asking it be determined afresh.

On April 25, NCDRC reaffirmed its penalty of Rs 2 crore and directed ITC to pay an interest of nine percent to Roy from July 2018 to April 2023 in six weeks.

ITC moved the apex court again, with senior advocate KV Vishwanathan seeking an urgent hearing.