Tamil Nadu

South Chennai

CC/169/2015

R.Govindan - Complainant(s)

Versus

M/s.TVS Ramco Agence - Opp.Party(s)

T.Chandrasekaran

24 Jun 2022

ORDER

Date of Complaint Filed : 24.03.2015

Date of Reservation      : 30.05.2022

Date of Order               : 24.06.2022

 

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION,

CHENNAI (SOUTH), CHENNAI-3.

 

PRESENT:     TMT. B. JIJAA, M.L.,                                                 : PRESIDENT

                        THIRU. T.R. SIVAKUMHAR, B.A., B.L.,                 :  MEMBER  I 

                        THIRU. S. NANDAGOPALAN., B.Sc., MBA.,          : MEMBER II

 

CONSUMER COMPLAINT No.169/2015

FRIDAY, THE 24^th DAY OF JUNE 2022

R.Govindan,

S/o. Rajnaikar,

No.4, 4^th Cross Street,

Raj Bai Nagar,

Thiruvallur Street,

Avadi,

Chennai – 600 071.                                                                                                                               ... Complainant                              

 

..Vs..

M/s. TVS Ramkay Agencies,

No.102, (Old No.14),

Sardar Patel Road,

Adyar,

Chennai – 600 020.                                                                                                                               ...  Opposite Party

 

******

Counsel for the Complainant          : M/s.T.Chandrasekaran

Counsel for the Opposite Party       : M/s. R. Veera Raghavan

ORDER

Pronounced by the Member-I, Thiru.T.R.Sivakumhar., B.A., B.L.,

1.      The Complainant has filed this complaint as against the Opposite Party under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and prays  to direct

the Opposite Party either to handover the Original Registration Certificate of the vehicle bearing Registration No.TN 20 BP 4862 issued by Regional Transport Authority, Thiruvallur to the Complainant or to hand over the same to the Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch and direct the Opposite Party to pay a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- Lakh towards compensation to the Complainant for his mental agony and loss of income along with cost.

2.   The averments of Complaint in brief are as follows:-

         The case of the Complainant is that he had purchased an Auto 2S LPG ES from the Opposite Party under hypothecation with Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai-54 for a sum of Rs.1,51,250/- on monthly EMI of Rs.2800/-. The said vehicle was registered as TN-20 BP 4862 by Regional Transport Office, Thiruvallur. He has been paying EMI regularly and there was no misunderstanding with the bank. Since the vehicle was in hypothecation with Indian Overseas Bank the original Registration Certificate to be deposited by the Opposite Party, when contacted the Opposite Party informed it was submitted to the said bank. From the date of Registration Fitness Certificate to be obtained within 24 months, for the same Original Registration Certificate to be produced, hence he approached the said bank, on assurance given by the Opposite Party to get the Original Registration Certificate as the said bank has been informed to provide the same, as the Original Registration Certificate was not submitted by the Opposite Party to the said bank, the said bank by letter dated 10.07.2013 requested the Opposite Party to send the Original Registration Certificate. As the vehicle was Registered on 06.05.2011 Fitness Certificate to be obtained within 24 months i.e., on or before 05.05.2013 obtaining the same vehicle could not be used on road by him. As the same could not be obtained to put the vehicle on road, the vehicle could not be used for 9 months resulted to loss of income of nearly Rs.1 lakh, which is because of the negligent attitude of the Opposite Party in not submitting the Original Registration Certificate to the said bank. Hence he caused a legal notice dated 26.06.2013 to the Opposite Party requesting to hand over original Registration Certificate and to compensate for loss of income, in spite of receipt of the said legal notice on 28.06.2013 by the Opposite Party, had not sent the Original Registration Certificate to the said bank. He being the only bread winner of his family suffered heavy financial loss. He is a consumer and hence the Opposite Party for their deficiency of service hast to compensate him for the mental agony as well as for loss of income. Hence the complaint.

3.Written Version filed by the Opposite Party in brief is as follows :

The Opposite Party are the authorized dealer for autorickshaws. They purchase autorickshaws from the manufacturer and re-sells the same to ultimate customers. The Complainant purchased one such vehicle registered as TN-20 BP 4862 on hire purchase transaction financed by Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi,Chennai-54, in connection a sales invoice dated 03.05.2011 issued by the Opposite Party. For registering the vehicle before concerned RTO, the Complainant and Indian Overseas Bank had signed the application form. As sale letter is required under Form 21, to be accompanied with the application form, was issued containing the details of the vehicle and finance name, correctly mentioning the name of Financier as Indian Overseas Bank,Avadi,Chennai-54. In the year 2011 they had sold many autorickshaws under Hire purchase finance by end users, like the Complainant. After the registration the autorickshaws intended to be used as contract carriage, the Original Registration Certificate to be submitted for obtaining permit from RTO and on receipt of the permit, the Original Registration Certificate and permit to be submitted to the Financier Bank, Photocopies of the said documents would be furnished to the customer and the same was followed in the case of the Complainant, too, as the Complainant had filed in the present proceedings the copy of permit and the letter dated 26.07.2013 addressed to the General  Manager of Indian Overseas Bank, wherein it was mentioned that the copy of Registration Certificate was enclosed. On receipt of Complainant’s lawyer notice dated 26.06.2013, followed by Indian Overseas Bank letter dated 10.07.2013, the Opposite Party searched through their records for acknowledgement given by the Bank to whom the Complainant’s Original Registration Certificate and Original Permit were delivered, at that time it was seen that the above said documents had actually been delivered to Indian Bank, Avadi, Chennai on 20.08.2011 itself. Only then it was discovered that the RTO while registering would have wrongly entered the Financier Bank name as “Indian Bank”, inspite of the application being Financier signed by the correct Financier Overseas Bank, twice by affixing their rubber stamp containing, their name and address in big bold letter, further the name of the Financier Bank as Indian Overseas Bank was correctly mentioned in the sale letter issued by the Opposite Party. So it was only then discovered the RTO had committed a mistake in the Registration Certificate that the vehicle was hypothecated to ‘Indian Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai’. On the basis of the said entry the Opposite Party had sent the Original Registration Certification to Indian Bank, Avadi Branch, on 20.08.2011 and had simultaneously furnished Xerox copies of such documents to the Complainant too. As they do not keep Xerox copies of a Registration Certificate for an Autorickshaw sold by them, they had obtained a Certified copy of the same, wherein a wrong entry was made in the name of Bank as Indian Bank, Avadi instead of Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi. Even though a Xerox Copy of the Registration Certificate provided to the Complainant, he had failed to notice the mistake in the name of Financier Bank. Even when he issued a letter dated 26.07.2013 enclosing the Xerox Copy of Registration Certificate, addressed to General Manager, Indian Overseas Bank, he failed to notice the wrong mentioning of financing Bank as Indian Bank, on receipt of the said letter along with Xerox Copy of Registration Certificate even the Indian Overseas Bank had failed to notice the another Bank mentioned in the Registration Certificate. On coming to know about the wrong entry they followed up with Indian Bank, Avadi Branch for return of Original Registration Certificate, permit and other documents relating to Complainant’s vehicle, given to the bank on 20.08.2011, for which the said bank informed that earlier Manager had received the same and they were searching for those documents, but till now not returned the same despite constant follow up since the Complainant does not own up his crucial negligence in not noticing that the name of the financing Bank was wrongly shown, he is not entitled for any relief, further he was also at serious fault, as he had suppressed the fact that his vehicle was continuously put in use on the roads and that he had not suffered loss due to any alleged non-use of vehicle, hence he is also not entitled for any relief. Hence the complaint is to be dismissed.

4.   The Complainant has filed his proof affidavit and written Arguments. On the side of the Complainant documents Ex.A-1 to Ex.A-7 were marked. The Opposite Party has filed its proof affidavit and written arguments. On the side of the Opposite Party documents Ex.B-1 to Ex.B-12 marked.

5. Points for Consideration:-

1. Whether the Opposite Party committed deficiency of service?
2. Whether the Complainant is entitled for the reliefs claimed in the complaint and also entitled any other relief/s?

Point No:1:-

It is an undisputed fact that the Complainant had purchased an Autorickshaw on 26.04.2011 from the Opposite Party, under Hire purchase financed by Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai-54. The disputed fact for consideration is that the Original Registration Certificate and Original Permit of the Complainant’s vehicle, found not been handed over to the Financer Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, by the Opposite Party, when the Complainant approached on assurance of the Opposite Party to obtain the same from the Financier Bank for obtaining Fitness Certificate from RTO as a mandate within 24 months from the date of Registration, and the same should be obtained on or before 05.05.2013.

The Contention of the Complainant is that as the Original Registration Certificate and Original Permit not been produced to Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, by the Opposite Party, he could not obtain Fitness Certificate on or before 05.05.2013 and he could not use his vehicle on road for nine months from 05.05.2013, which resulted in monetary loss of nearly Rs.1 lakh. It is the bounden duty of the Opposite Party to hand over the Original Registration Certificate and Original Permit to Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, the Financier Bank and by not doing so, had committed deficiency of service.

The Opposite Party contended that they had submitted the correct particulars of Financier Bank, as found in Ex.B-1, being Form-20 and Ex.B-2, being Sale Certificate, at the time of Registration of Complainant’s vehicle, it is the Registering Authority who had wrongly entered the Financier Bank as Indian Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai instead of Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai, which the Complainant had failed to notice the same and also the Financier Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, on receipt of Ex.A-7 the letter dated 26.07.2013 sent to them by the Complainant, along with a copy of Registration Certificate. Hence there is no negligence on their part and had not committed any deficiency of service as they had forwarded the Original Registration Certificate and Permit to the Financier mentioned in the Registration Certificate issued by Registering Authority on 20.08.2011 itself as found in Ex.B-4 and on receipt of Ex.A-4and Ex.A-6, legal notice dated 26.06.2013 and the letter dated 10.07.2013 from Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, respectively, they searched the acknowledgement of the Bank to which the subject documents were sent and found it was sent to IndianBank, Avadi Branch and when contacted the said bank it was informed that the original documents of the Complainant was received by earlier Manager and they were in search of the same and till date the same are not returned by the said Bank. Further contended that the Complainant who had obtained a Duplicate Registration Certificate has not suffered any monetary loss as he was using the vehicle continuously on road by obtaining Fitness Certificate from RTO till 16.09.2017 as found in Ex.B-8 as well as to show the vehicle of the Complainant in road worthy condition, the Job cards dated 20.11.2014, 14.01.2015, 08.04.2015 were marked as Ex.B-5 to Ex.B-7 and Photographs of the vehicle were marked as Ex.B-9 to EX.B-11.

Considering the facts and circumstances of the case in hand, though the Registering Authority had wrongly mentioned the name of the Financier Bank as Indian Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai instead of Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai, in spite of correct particulars of the Financier Bank provided by the Opposite Party resulted in forwarding the Original Registration Certificate and Original Permit to Indian Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai, it is bounden duty of the Opposite Party on receipt of the Original Registration Certificate to verify each and every particulars mentioned in the same, before forwarding the same to the Financier Bank as well as before handing over Xerox Copy to the Complainant, if the Original Registration Certificate  would have been verified at the end of the Opposite Party they would not have forwarded to Indian Bank, who is not a Financier of the Complainant, as the Opposite Party who had maintained Ex.B-1 & Ex.B-2, is very well aware that Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai, is the Financier of the Complainant, should have rectified the name of the Financier Bank of the Complainant and should have sent to them. Further, even after knowing the fact of forwarding Original Registration Certificate and permit of the Complainant to Indian Bank, Avadi Branch, the Opposite Party has not taken any diligent efforts to get back the Original Registration Certificate and Original Permit from Indian Bank and to hand over the same to Indian Overseas Bank, which clearly shows that the Complainant is left in dark in obtaining Fitness Certificate even after expiry of time, ie., even after 05.05.2013, as on or before the said date the Fitness Certificate should have been obtained for the vehicle of the Complainant. Hence the contention of the Opposite Party that the Complainant had obtained Duplicate Registration Certificate without producing any evidence to prove their contention before this Commission, except based on Ex.B-8 the Fitness Certificate obtained till 16.09.2017 by the Complainant , would also clearly show that the Fitness Certificate of the vehicle would have been obtained in the month of September,2013 by the Complainant after a lapse of 4 months from the original date and month of Fitness Certificate to be obtained i.e., on or before 05.05.2013 and the renewals would have been done in the month of May of every two years.

Hence this Commission is of the considered view that by not handing over of the Original Registration Certificate and Original Permit to the Financier of the Complainant, namely Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, Chennai, resulted the Complainant from not using his vehicle on road by obtaining the Fitness Certificate from Regional Transport Office, on or before 05.05.2013, and thereby caused mental agony and monetary loss to the Complainant, clearly amounts to deficiency of service on the part of the Opposite Party. Accordingly Point No.1 is answered.

Point Nos.2 & 3:-

As discussed and decided in Point NO.1, as against the Opposite Party, this Commission is of the considered view that the Complainant is entitled to get the Original Registration Certificate of the vehicle bearing Registration No.TN-20-BP-4862 from the Opposite Party, if the same is not handed over, the Complainant is entitled for a sum of Rs.20,000/- as monetary compensation, the Complainant is also entitled for a sum of Rs.50,000/- towards mental agony and monetary loss on the deficiency of service committed by the Opposite Party and for a sum of Rs.5,000/- towards cost of the complaint.

In view of above discussion, the Complainant is not entitled for any other relief/s.

In the result the complaint is allowed in part. The Opposite Party is directed to hand over the Original Registration Certificate of the Complainant’s vehicle bearing Registration No. TN 20 BP 4862 issued by Regional Transport Office, Thiruvallur, either to the Complainant or to Indian Overseas Bank, Avadi Branch, if the same is not be handed over by the Opposite party,  the Opposite Party shall pay to the Complainant a sum of Rs.20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand Only) as monetary compensation towards non- handing over of the Original Registration Certificate to the Complainant, and to pay a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand Only)  towards mental agony and monetary loss suffered by the Complainant and deficiency of service committed by Opposite Party and also to pay a  sum of Rs.5,000/- (Rupees Five Thousand Only)  towards cost of the complaint.

         In the result the complaint is allowed.

Dictated to Steno-Typist, transcribed and typed by her, corrected and pronounced by us in the Open Commission, on  24^th of June 2022.  

 

 

S. NANDAGOPALAN                                               T.R. SIVAKUMHAR                                                                    B.JIJAA

         MEMBER II                                                             MEMBER I                                                                        PRESIDENT

 

List of documents filed on the side of the Complainant:-

 

Ex.A1	07.02.2011	Copy of Proceedings of R.T.O. Thiruvallur
Ex.A2	10.05.2011	Copy of permit in respect of Vehicle
Ex.A3		Copy of Payments paid to the Bank
Ex.A4	26.06.2013	Copy of Legal Notice issued by the Complainant
Ex.A5	04.07.2013	Copy of complaint by Complainant to Inspectorof Police, Avadi.
Ex.A6	10.07.2013	Copy of letter by IOB Bank, Avadi Branch to Opposite Party.
Ex.A7	26.07.2013	Copy of letter by Complainant to the Branch Manager, IOB, Avadi Branch.

 

 

List of documents filed on the side of the Opposite Party:-

 

Ex.B1		Complainant’s application in Form No.20 for registration of his autorickshaw
Ex.B2		“Sale letter” issued by Opposite Party for registering Complainant’s autorickshaw
Ex.B3	06.05.2011	Certified copy of registration details of Complainant’s autorickshaw
Ex.B4	20.08.2011	Acknowledgement given by Indian Bank, Avadi, fr receipt of originals of RC book, tax, card, insurance cover and permit for Complainant’s autorickshaw
Ex.B5	20.11.2014	Job card for servicing of Complainant’s autorickshaw at a service centre (at 44,346 km)  at Avadi
Ex.B6	14.01.2015	Job card for servicing of Complainant’s autorickshaw at a service centre (at 44,828 km)  at Avadi
Ex.B7	08.04.2015	Job card for servicing of Complainant’s autorickshaw at a service centre (at 44,346 km)  at Avadi
Ex.B8	30.05.2017	Certified copy of “Screen Report of Vehicle” for Complainant’s autorickshaw, showing validity of current fitness certificate upto 15.09.2017
Ex.B9	28.05.2017	Photo of Complainant’s autorickshaw parked inside his changed place at Plot No.85, Annai Indira street, Vasantham Nagar, Avadi, Chennai – 600 071
Ex.B10	29.07.2017	Photo of Complainant’s changed place at Plot No.85, Annai Indira Street, Vasantham Nagar, Avadi, Chennai – 600 071 -  view from right side (with the black top of his parked autorickshaw also visible)
Ex.B11	29.07.2017	Photo of Complainant’s changed place at lot No.85, Annai Indira Street, Vasantham Nagar, Avadi, Chennai – 600 071 -  straight view (with the black top of his parked autorickshaw also visible)
Ex.B12	18.07.2017	Statement of Complainant’s loan account with IOB, Avadi, for last one year, from 27.06.2016 to 30.06.2017.

 

 

 

 

S. NANDAGOPALAN               T.R. SIVAKUMHAR                   B.JIJAA

         MEMBER II                       MEMBER I                         PRESIDENT