BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES

REDRESSAL FORUM, JALANDHAR.

Complaint No.72 of 2015

Date of Instt. 27.02.2015

Date of Decision :22.06.2015

Sarbjit Singh son of Chain Singh R/o 464, Mohalla Katahra, Basti Bawa Khel, Jalandhar.

..........Complainant Versus

Lovely Autos Lovely Mall, Dr.Ambedkar Chowk, Jalandhar City, through its Incharge/Manager/Authorized Signatory.

.........Opposite party

Complaint Under Section 1 2 of the Consumer Protection Act.

Before: S. Jaspal Singh Bhatia (President)

Ms. Jyotsna Thatai (Member)

Sh.Parminder Sharma (Member)

Present: Sh.KC Malhotra Adv., counsel for complainant.

Sh.Arun Gupta Adv., counsel for opposite party.

Order

J.S.Bhatia (President)

1. The complainant has filed the present complaint under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, against the opposite party on the averments that aspirant and ambitious complainant came in contact with sale representative of opposite party, authorized dealer of manufacturer of Maruti Cars. Opposite party canvased, prevailed and persuaded the complainant to go in for a new car model Alto K10. The said representative opposite party gave the offer and assured that on purchase of new car an amount of Rs.48,000/- would be deducted/reduced from the retail bill price of the new car alongwith gift of a gold coin worth Rs.3000/- approximately and being the first Navratra day further rebate of Rs.20,000/- was being offered by the opposite party on the sale price of the car, which was also not given to the complainant. Going by assurance, representation and believing gentleman business ethics and advertisement, the complainant purchased the said car at a total price of Rs.307358/- vide performa invoice dated 28.9.2014 and the complainant was provided a receipt dated 28.9.2014 by the opposite party showing therein purchase value of Rs.48,000/- of old car under the exchange policy. Opposite party at the time of sale and delivery of new car also collected charges/ amount for issue of insurance policy, registration certificate/ temporary and permanent as was required by Punjab/State Government from the complainant. Accordingly statutory binding mandatory notification/obligate on opposite party to issue temporary registration number at the time of sale and also obtain permanent registration of new car from DTO, Jalandhar. It was sole responsibility of opposite party to complete and comply with all the requirement and formalities in time and ensure that permanent registration certificate of new car is issued by DTO Jalandhar and there after handed over the same to the complainant. Opposite party issued temporary registration mark PB-08-CD-1838 on 28.9.2014 valid for 30 days. In total the complainant paid Rs.2,50,000/- from the loan account, Rs.58,895 by way of cheque i.e total of Rs.3,08,895/- to the CPC Canteen which forwarded Rs.307358 total value of the car to the Lovely Autos in addition to this total amount opposite party was to adjust Rs.48,000/- as exchange price for the old car of the complainant. So in total the amount which was given to the opposite party by complainant was Rs.3,55,358/- from which extended warranty was provided for Rs.4449.49/-, Rs.12,646/- was paid out for the insurance of the vehicle, opposite party paid back to the complainant by cheque an amount of Rs.11,264/- and Rs.19640.51/- were retained by opposite party to pay for the registration charges/ road tax. As a matter of fact from the total calculations amount of Rs.1199.03/- retained in excess by the opposite party is unaccounted for. Going by the representation/assurances made by opposite party and its gentleman and professional one, the complainant agreed and made payment at 6%, rate prevalent at the time of purchase of the car towards registration charges/road tax etc, to opposite party and the same was reflected in separate slip. After deposit of said amount, the complainant had been enquiry regarding status of registration certificate and its delivery from the opposite party. The complainant was put off every time with stock reply that registration certificate will be available shortly and the complainant need not worry on this score. Due to default, inelegance and deficiency in rendering service and unfair and deceptive trade practice and failure to deposit registration fee within stipulated period after collecting from the complainant, permanent registration number was not allotted to the new car within the validity period i.e before the expiry of the temporary registration number. Consequently, on dated 7.10.2014, Punjab Government revised the rate of road tax and resultantly opposite party is demanding more money to apply to the Registering Authority/DTO, Jalandhar to issue the registration certificate of the said car. Opposite party could not give any valid and plausible reason from non deposit of registration charges/road tax collected, from the complainant at the time of purchase of the car, for which opposite party was squarely to be blamed and the complainant can not be faulted with on this score. On such like averments, the complainant has prayed for directing the opposite party to obtain permanent registration certificate without demanding any additional of amount. He has also claimed damages and litigation expenses. He has further prayed for directing the opposite parties to give him one gold coin worth Rs.3000/-, rebate amount of Rs.20,000/- and excess money of Rs.1199/-.

2. Upon notice, opposite party appeared and filed a written reply pleading that opposite party gave the offer and assured the complainant that on the purchase of Alto K10 car an amount of Rs.48,000/- (Rs.30,000/- for old car price plus Rs.18,000/- as exchange bonus) would be deducted from the retail bill price alongwith gold coin worth Rs.3000/- and rebate of Rs.20,000/- total amounting to Rs.69,000/- which was given to the complainant. The complainant purchased the said car vide performa invoice dated 28.9.2014 showing purchase value of Rs.48,000/- of old car under the exchange policy. The opposite party collected charges for issuing of insurance certificate, registration charges as required by the Punjab Government from the complainant. It is mentioned that the opposite party received the price of the car on 31.10.2014. The complainant made payment @ 6% rate for registration charges. It is submitted that on 7.10.2014, Punjab Government, revised the rate of road tax. The opposite party demanded the revised rate of road tax, but the complainant reused to deposit the same but as a good will gesture the opposite party deposited 2% extra i.e Rs.6262/- and applied for the RC and the same is ready. It denied other material averments of the complainant.

3. In support of his complaint, learned counsel for the complainant has tendered into evidence affidavits Ex.CA and Ex.C/B alongwith copies of documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C7 and closed evidence.

4. On the other hand, learned counsel for opposite party has tendered affidavit Ex.OPW1/A alongwith copies of documents Ex.OP1 to Ex.OP5 and closed evidence.

5. We have carefully gone through the record and also heard the learned counsels for the parties.

6. At the time of arguments, learned counsel for the complainant raised dispute only regarding permanent registration certificate. The permanent registration certificate was given by the opposite party to learned counsel for the complainant on 6.4.2015 i.e during pendency of the present complaint. Counsel for the complainant contended that the registration certificate was given by the opposite party only after the complainant has filed the present complaint. He further contended that complainant is entitled to litigation expenses and further compensation for supplying certificate of registration belatedly by the opposite party. We have carefully considered the contentions advanced by learned counsel for the complainant. No doubt, the opposite party gave the certificate of registration to learned counsel for the complainant but it was only done after the complainant has filed the present complaint. So complainant has to spend expenses on the present litigation expenses. Certificate of registration was also applied and given to the complainant belatedly. So he is entitled to some compensation and litigation expenses.

7. In view of above discussion, the present complaint is accepted and opposite party is directed to pay Rs.5000/- in lump sum to the complainant on account of compensation and litigation expenses. Copies of the order be sent to the parties free of costs under rules. File be consigned to the record room.

Dated Parminder Sharma Jyotsna Thatai Jaspal Singh Bhatia

22.06.2015 Member Member President