BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, AMRITSAR.

Consumer Complaint No. 605 of 2014

Date of Institution: 18.11.2014

Date of Decision: 17-09-2015  

Rakesh Kapoor son of Sh.jagdish Chander, resident of House No. 663, Basant Avenue, Ward No. 48, Amritsar.

Complainant

Versus

1. Ford India Private Limited, having its Corporation Office-North At Gurgaon through its Chairman/ Managing Director.
2. Bhagat Ford having its Head Office at 658, Industrial Area-A, Sherpur Bye-pass, G.T.Road, Ludhiana through its Principal Officer.
3. Bhagat Ford, Mohan Vihar, Near New Amritsar Gate, G.T.Road, Amritsar through its partner/ proprietor/ principal officer.  

Opposite Parties

Complaint under section 11 and 12 of the Consumer Protection Act.

Present: For the Complainant: Sh.  Vikram Puri, Advocate

              For the Opposite Parties: Sh.R.P.Singh, Advocate

Quorum:

Sh.Bhupinder Singh, President

Mr.Anoop Sharma, Member     

Order dictated by:

Sh.Bhupinder Singh, President.

1. Present complaint has been filed by Sh.Rakesh Kapoor  under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act alleging therein that the Opposite Parties  made an offer of Rs.35,000/- towards exchange bonus and in response thereto, the complainant sold his Swift Dzire Car No.PB-02-BG-0299 through OLX to one Grobin Singh son of Majeet Singh resident of village: Rasoolpur, Amritsar for Rs.3 lacs. After sale of the said Swift Dzire Car No.PB-02-BG-0299, the complainant purchased  Ford Figo car from Opposite Party No.3 in August, 2014 and at the time of purchase of the said car, the Opposite Party No.3 also received registration charges from the complainant and agreed to deliver the RC of the car to the complainant within shortest period and also agreed to give exchange bonus of Rs.35,000/- to the complainant in due course.  Thereafter, the complainant has been approaching the Opposite Parties  and requesting them to hand over the RC of the car to the complainant and also to give the exchange bonus benefit of Rs.35,000/-, but the Opposite Parties  did not pay any heed to the requests of the complainant.            Alleging the same to be deficiency in service, complaint was filed seeking directions to the opposite parties  to give the  benefit of exchange bonus of Rs.35,000/- to the complainant and to hand over the RC of the Ford Figo car purchased by the complainant from the Opposite Parties. Compensation and litigation expenses were also demanded.
2. On notice, Opposite Parties  appeared and filed written version in which it was submitted that the exchange offer was made by the Opposite Parties  for the customer who sell the car to the Opposite Parties  and purchase any car from it. As the complainant himself admitted in this para that he had sold his Swift Dzire Car No.PB-02-BG-0299 through OLX, therefore, he is not entitled to any exchange bonus as he never exchanged his car with the Opposite Parties  with new one. Moreover, as admitted by the complainant in his e-mail sent to the Opposite Parties  that till date the car allegedly sold by the complainant is still in the name of the complainant and has not been transferred,  which shows that the car has not been sold and the complainant has concocted the story of selling the car. It is submitted tat the car was sold to the complainant and the charges of Rs.31,350/- for RC were received from the complainant, but after receiving the RC charges, the Opposite Parties  came to know  that the government has increased the charges for RC, even Rs. 10,000/- were deposited from its own pocked by the Opposite Parties  to the District Transport Officer for RC.  The Opposite Parties  have applied for the same and has also  deposited the requisite fee, as soon as the RC is procured the same will be provided to the complainant.  While denying and controverting other allegations, dismissal of complaint was prayed.
3. Complainant tendered into evidence his affidavit Ex.C1 alongwith documents Ex.C2 to Ex.C14 and closed the evidence on behalf of the complainant.
4. Opposite Parties  tendered into evidence affidavit of Sh.Jasbir Singh, Manager Ex.OP1 to 3/1  alongwith documents Ex.OP1 to 3/2 to Ex.OP1 to 3/ 7  and closed the evidence on behalf of the Opposite Parties.
5. 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 both the parties.
6. From the record i.e. pleadings of the parties and the evidence produced on record by the parties, it is clear that  the complainant purchased Ford Figo car from Opposite Party No.3 manufactured by Opposite Party No.1 in August, 2014. The complainant alleges that Opposite Parties  made an offer of Rs.35,000/- towards exchange bonus. Resultantly, the complainant sold his Swift Dzire Car No.PB-02-BG-0299 through OLX to one Grobin Singh son of Majeet Singh resident of village: Rasoolpur, Amritsar for Rs.3 lacs and executed the delivery letter cum receipt  to this effect. The complainant further alleges that at the time of purchase  of said car, Opposite Party No.3 also received  registration charges from the complainant and agreed to deliver the RC of the car to the complainant within shortest period and also agreed to give exchange bonus of Rs.35,000/- to the complainant in due course, but the Opposite Parties  neither gave the benefit of exchange bonus of Rs.35,000/- nor handed over the RC of the car to the complainant despite of passage of period about one year. In the absence of RC of the vehicle, the complainant is  facing great  hardship and inconvenience in plying the said car. The complainant also served legal notice dated 14.10.2014 Ex.C14 upon the Opposite Parties , but inspite of that, the Opposite Parties  neither delivered the RC of the vehicle to the complainant nor paid the exchange bonus of Rs.35,000/- to the complainant.  Ld.counsel for the   complainant  submitted that all this amounts to deficiency of service on the part of the opposite parties.
7. Whereas the case of the Opposite Parties is that  the exchange offer was made by the Opposite Parties  for the customer who sells the car to the Opposite Parties  and purchase any car from the Opposite Parties, but the complainant     himself has admitted in para No.2 of the complaint that  he had sold his Swift Dzire Car No.PB-02-BG-0299 through OLX, therefore, he is not entitled to any exchange bonus as he never exchanged his car with the Opposite Parties  with new one. This fact has also been admitted by the complainant in his  e-mail sent to the Opposite Parties  Ex.C10 that till date the car allegedly sold by the complainant is still in the name of the complainant and has not been transferred,  which shows that the car has not been sold and the complainant has concocted the story of selling the car. Opposite Parties  have  admitted that  the complainant Rs.31,350/- for RC of the vehicle to  Opposite Party No.3. After receiving the RC charges, the Opposite Parties  came to know  that the government has increased the charges for RC. However, the Opposite Parties  have deposited Rs. 10,000/- from its own pocked  to get the RC prepared  of the vehicle of the complainant. The Opposite Parties  have deposited the registration charges with District Transport Officer, Amritsar. However, they have not yet issued the RC of the vehicle of the complainant to the Opposite Parties, so they could not hand over the same to the complainant. Ld.counsel for the opposite party submitted that there is no deficiency of service on the part of the Opposite Parties.
8. From the entire above discussion, we have come to the conclusion that the complainant purchased Ford Figo car with exchange bonus  scheme from Opposite Party No.2 in August, 2014. As per scheme of Opposite Parties  contained in document dated 3.1.2014 Ex.OP1,3/2 the exchange bonus is available to the buyer who sells his old car to the Opposite Parties, whereas the complainant has himself admitted in his complaint that he sold his Swift Dzire Car No.PB-02-BG-0299 through OLX and he has not sold his old car to the Opposite Parties . Further, as per this scheme, the complainant was required to submit the transferred RC of the old vehicle in the name of new buyer within one month from the date of purchase of new vehicle from the Opposite Parties, but the complainant himself has admitted in his e-mail  sent by the complainant to the Opposite Parties Ex.C10 that RC of the said old Swift Dzire Car No.PB-02-BG-0299 allegedly sold by the complainant is  still in the name of the complainant and has not been transferred,  which proves that the complainant has not sold his old car i.e. Swift Dzire Car No.PB-02-BG-0299. So, all t his  disqualifies the complainant from claiming the exchange bonus from the Opposite Parties . Resultantly, we hold that the Opposite Parties  were justified in not releasing the exchange bonus of Rs.35,000/- to the complainant in the present  case.
9. As regard the RC of the  vehicle, the Opposite Parties  have admitted that  they received the charges of RC of the vehicle of the complainant from the complainant amounting to Rs.31,350/- in August, 2014, the Opposite Parties  was bound to supply/ deliver the RC of the vehicle in question to the complainant within one month from the date of its  purchase i.e. Opposite Parties   were bound to supply/ deliver the permanent RC of the vehicle of the complainant by end of September, 2014, but up till now, the Opposite Parties  could not get prepared the RC of the vehicle  from the Registering Authority i.e. District Transport Officer, Amritsar  and failed to deliver the same to the complainant, even after a lapse of a period of one year from the date of purchase of the vehicle by the complainant from the Opposite Parties . So, certainly, the Opposite Parties  are in deficiency of service  on this point qua the complainant.
10. As such, the complaint is partly allowed and the Opposite Parties  are directed to get prepare the RC of the vehicle  of the complainant from the District Transport Officer, Amritsar and deliver the same to the complainant within one month from the date of receipt of copy of this order. Opposite Parties are also directed to pay compensation to the complainant to the tune of Rs.5,000/-. Opposite Parties  are also directed to pay the costs of litigation to the complainant to the tune of Rs.2,000/-.        Copies of the order be furnished to the parties free of cost. 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.

Dated: 17-09-2015.                                          (Bhupinder Singh)                                                                                                President

hrg                                                                         (Anoop Sharma)     

                                    Member