A local consumer court in Karachi has imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the popular ride-hailing service, Careem on account of causing mental agony and providing faulty service to a consumer.
Careem was found guilty of violating Section 13 of the Sindh Consumer Protection Act, 2014 following which Judge Javed Ali Korejo ordered Junaid Iqbal, the chief executive of Careem Pakistan to submit a fine of Rs 25,000 in addition to Rs 10,000 as professional litigation fee and Rs 15,000 as damages to the complainant within a month.
Failure to submit the fine within the prescribed time can result in imprisonment for a period of 1 month to 3 years with a fine of Rs 50,000 or both under Section 33(2) of the Act. Interestingly, Careem’s legal team admitted that no complaint has been filed against the Careem Captain, however, he has been issued a warning to be careful in the future.
Advocate Mehmood Ahmed Khan booked a Careem ride on May 26 earlier this year when the driver drove recklessly and used vulgar language. In addition, on being asked to follow the instructions for the route, the drive misbehaved, dropping the passengers halfway. This happened during the month of Ramazan and the passengers were fasting.
Mehmood Khan lodged the complaint with the court after he didn’t receive a satisfactory response to his online compliant with Careem. He said that despite serving a legal notice to Careem, he didn’t receive a response from its management.
The defendant’s legal team maintained that the company isn’t responsible for the misbehavior of Careem Captains who were independent third-party service providers. They also requested the court to dismiss the case for being non-maintainable for hearing.
The legal team, however, conceded that Careem earned 25% of every Careem ride, following which the judge noted that Careem can be held accountable for any misbehavior on part of the drivers under the Section 2(q)(i) of the Sindh Consumer Protection Act, 2014.
