THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, AMRITSAR
Consumer Complaint No. 498 of 2014
Date of Institution : 9.9.2014
Date of Decision : 11.09.2015
Kwality Pharmaceuticals (P) Ltd., 6th Mile Stone, village Nag Kalan, Majitha Road, Amritsar 143601 Punjab India through its authorized signatory & its Managing Director Ramesh Arora
...Complainant
Vs.
Chevrolet Sales India Pvt.Ltd., Block B, Chandrapura Industrial Estate, Halol 389351 District Panchmahals, Gujarat, India through its Principal Officer
S.V.Motors (authorized dealer & service agent of Chevrolet Sales India Pvt.Ltd )
a. G.T. Road, Near New Amritsar,Opposite ITB Police,Amritsar
b. 16A, Court Road, Near Ravi Gas Agency, Amritsar 143001
....Opp.parties
Complaint under section 12/13 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986
Present : For the complainant : Sh. Manv Jindal,Advocate
For the opposite party No.1 :Sh.Vikas Mahajan & Amit Bhatia,Advocate
For opposite party No.2 : Sh.Mohan Arora,Advocate
Quorum : Sh. Bhupinder Singh, President ,Ms. Kulwant Bajwa,Member &
Sh.Anoop Sharma,Member
-2-
Order dictated by :-
Bhupinder Singh, President
1 Present complaint has been filed by Kwality Pharmaceuicals through its Managing Director Ramesh Arora under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act alleging therein that he purchased one Chevrolet Cruze VCDi car bearing Chassis No. MA6JF69DFAH005897, Engine No. Z20S1356868K registration No. PB-02-BJ-6897 from opposite party No.2 vide invoice dated 30.6.2010 for Rs. 13,31,384/-. with warranty of three years. On 3.4.2014 when Ramesh Arora, MD of the complainant company was driving the said car while going from Amritsar to Jammu on the way at Dyal Chak, Hira Nagar , there was blast in the car. The complainant employed breaks which did not work but with the help of gears he could park the car on road side. When Ramesh Arora came out of the car at about 10 a.m , the said car caught fire and got completely burnt. The complainant reported the matter to the police P.S. Hira Nagar, J & K, who recorded DDR No. 13 dated 3.4.2014. Complainant has alleged that this incident took place and the car was completely burnt due to technical defect in the vehicle. The said defect is either in the manufacturing of the car or developed during the course of running of the vehicle. Complainant requested the opposite parties to check the vehicle , but the opposite party did not respond to the request of the complainant. Alleging the same to be deficiency in service complaint was filed seeking directions to the opposite parties to pay Rs. 13,31,384/- alongwith interest . Compensation of Rs. 3,00,000/- alongwith
2. Opposite party No.1 in its written version has submitted that the vehicle in question is not covered under warranty as the complainant had purchased the vehicle on 30.6.2010, whereas filed the present complaint on 9.9.2014 i.e. after expiry of four years and three months approximately. While denying and controverting other allegations, dismissal of complaint was prayed.
3. Opposite party No.2 in its written version has submitted that the complainant has purchased the vehicle in question on 30.6.2010 with three years warranty. The complainant has filed the present complaint on 9.9.2014 i.e. after the expiry of warranty period. It was submitted that since the purchase of the car , it met with accident for two times due to negligent driving of the driver of the car of the complainant . It was submitted that vehicle was insured with Tata AIG General Insu.Co for the period from 7.7.2013 to 6.7.2014 and information of accident was duly given to the Insu.Company and net assessed loss of car comes to Rs. 26,71,124.50 paise and net salvage from total loss basis comes to Rs. 8,23,500/- which the complainant agreed to accept from the Insurance company. The Insurance company had already paid the loss amount to the complainant in the month of July 2014. While denying and controverting other allegations, dismissal of complaint was prayed.
4. Complainant tendered into evidence his affidavit Ex.C=1 alongwith documents Ex.C-2 to Ex.C-8.
5. Opposite party No.1 tendered affidavit of Sh. Vivek Singh, Regional Manager Ex.OP1/1 alongwith documents Ex.OP1/2 to Ex.OP1/4.
6. Opposite party No.2 tendered affidavit of Sh. Rajesh Kakaria Ex.OP2/1 alongwith documents Ex.OP2/2 to Ex.OP2/4.
7. We have carefully gone through the pleadings of the parties, arguments advanced by the ld.counsel for the parties and have appreciated the evidence produced on record by both the parties with the valuable assistance of the ld.counsel for the parties.
8. From the record i.e. pleadings of the parties and the evidence produced on record by both the parties , it is clear that complainant purchased one Chevrolet Cruze VCDi car bearing registration No. PB-02-BJ-6897 from opposite party No.2 vide invoice dated 30.6.2010 Ex.C-3 with warranty of three years. On 3.4.2014 when Ramesh Arora, MD of the complainant company was driving the said car while going from Amritsar to Jammu on the way at Dyal Chak, Hira Nagar , there was blast in the car. The complainant employed breaks which did not work but with the help of gears the complainant could park the car on road side. When Ramesh Arora came out of the car at about 10 a.m , the said car caught fire and got completely burnt. The complainant lodged report with the police P.S. Hira Nagar, J & K, who recorded DDR No. 13 dated 3.4.2014 Ex.C-5. The complainant submitted that this incident took place and the car was completely burnt due to technical defect in the vehicle. The said defect is either in the manufacturing of the car or developed during the course of running of the vehicle. So the opposite parties are liable to pay the entire amount of the vehicle alongwith compensation, but the opposite party did not pay the said amount despite the requests made by the complainant to the opposite parties.
9. Whereas the case of the opposite parties is that the complainant purchased the vehicle in question on 30.6.2010. The incident took place on 3.4.2014 and the present complaint has been filed on 9.9.2014 i.e. after the expiry of four years and three months approximately and the incident also took place after the expiry of the warranty period which expired on 29.6.2013. So no claim is liable against the opposite parties after the expiry of the warranty period. Apart from this the complainant has lodged complaint with the Insurance company i.e. TATA AIG Gen. Insurance company, Branch Jalandhar, Punjab regarding total loss of the vehicle and the complainant has received total IDV from the said Insurance company i.e. an amount of Rs. 8,30,000/- from the aforesaid Insurance company as full and final settlement of the claim on 3.7.2014. After receiving that amount on 3.7.2014 the complainant has filed the present complaint on 9.9.2014 and the complainant has not mentioned these facts in the complaint ; thereby concealed the true and material facts from this Forum. Counsel for the opposite parties submitted that the opposite parties are not liable to pay any claim to the complainant. As such there is no deficiency of service on the part of the opposite parties qua the complainant.
10. From the entire above discussion, we have come to the conclusion that complainant purchased Chevrolet Cruze car bearing registration No. PB-02-BJ-6897 from opposite party No.2 vide invoice dated 30.6.2010 Ex.C-3 with warranty of three years. On 30.4.2014 the said vehicle was being taken from Amritsar to Jammu by Ramesh Arora, Managing Director of the complainant company, on the way at Dyal Chak, Hira Nagar (Jammu and Kashmir), there was blast in the car. The complainant parked the car on road side and came out of the car and got the luggage unloaded. However, at about 10.00 a.m the said car caught fire and got completely burnt. The complainant lodged report with the police of P.S. Hira Nagar, Jammu & Kashmir , who recorded DDR No. 13 dated 30.4.2014 Ex.C-5. The complainant alleged that this incident took place and the car was completely burnt due to technical defects in the vehicle, as a result of which complainant suffered huge loss. Ld.counsel for the complainant submitted that opposite parties being manufacturer and dealer of the car are liable to pay entire amount of the car alongwith compensation to the complainant, but they did not pay the same to the complainant.
11. The car in question was purchased by the complainant on 30.6.2010 with warranty of three years and the said warranty expired on 29.6.2013. This incident took place on 30.4.2014 i.e. after the expiry of the warranty period, so the complainant is not entitled to recover the price of the vehicle from the opposite party i.e. manufacturer or the dealer. Apart from this the complainant has lodged claim of the car with the Insurance company i.e. TATA AIG Gen. Insu.Co., Branch Jalandhar, Punjab regarding total loss of the vehicle and the complainant has received total IDV from the said Insurance company i.e. amount of Rs. 8,30,000/- from the said Insurance company as full and final settlement of the claim on 3.7.2014 as deposed by Sh. Vikas Thakur, Sr. Claim Analyst of TATA AIG Gen.Insurance Co., branch Jalandhar Punjab, who was examined by the opposite party in this Fora . After receiving that amount on 3.7.2014, the complainant has filed the present complaint on 9.9.2014. But the complainant did not mention these facts in the complaint thereby he has concealed the true and material facts from this Forum. The complainant is also guility of concealment of facts. Guilty person is not entitled to any equity. Further, the incident took place to the vehicle in question after the expiry of the warranty period, as such the manufacturer as well as the dealer of the car in question were not liable to pay any compensation to the complainant.
12. Therefore, we hold that complainant is not entitled to any relief. Resultantly, the complaint is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs. Copies of the order be furnished to the parties free of costs. File is ordered to be consigned to the record room. Case could not be disposed of within the stipulated period due to heavy pendency of the cases in this Forum.
11.09.2015 ( Bhupinder Singh )
President
( Kulwant Kaur Bajwa) (Anoop Sharma)
/R/ Member Member
