Punjab

Ludhiana

CC/23/551

Gurpreet singh - Complainant(s)

Versus

Sarvpriya Autos - Opp.Party(s)

06 Dec 2023

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, LUDHIANA.

                                                Complaint No: 551 dated 30.11.2023.                                    

                   Date of decision: 06.12.2023

 

Gurpreet Singh Sidhu son of Sh.Amar Singh Sidhu, r/o H.No.125, Sant Vihar, St.No.2, Chuharpur Road, Ludhiana-141001. M.No.98887-09299.

                                     

                                                                                       ..…Complainant

                                                Versus

Sarvpriya Autos Pvt. Ltd., Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana through its Manager-141001.

…..Opposite party

Complaint under Section 35 of The Consumer Protection Act, 2020

QUORUM:

SH. SANJEEV BATRA, PRESIDENT

MS. MONIKA BHAGAT, MEMBER

 

COUNSEL FOR THE PARTIES:

For complainant            :         Sh.Gagandeep Saini, Advocate

 

ORDER

PER SANJEEV BATRA, PRESIDENT

1.                The complainant has invoked the jurisdiction of this Commission by raising a consumer dispute with regard to non-apply/issue the RC of the vehicle i.e. Motor cycle make Hero Honda CD 110 CC D which was purchased by the complainant on 13.10.2014 for a total sale consideration of Rs.41,405/- on loan and the loan was sanctioned from family credit after making the down payment of Rs.15,000/- by the complainant. As per the averments, the cost of RC and insurance were included in the said amount one installment was of Rs.1900/- settled. Total 36 installments were agreed between the complainant and the same were paid by complainant to the company in the year 2018. Thus, the complainant has paid Rs.83,400/- to the OP which is double of the actual sale consideration. The complainant received NOC from the company and same was supplied to the OP for apply registration certificate of the vehicle in the name of the complainant. At the time of purchase of the said vehicle, temporary number was given to the complainant i.e. PB-10-EC-(T)5231. Thereafter, despite repeated approaches made by the complainant with the request to apply RC of the vehicle in the name of the complainant but OP failed to do the needful. Such act and conduct of OP is claimed to be deficiency in service and adoption of unfair trade practice. So, by filing the present complaint, complainant has prayed for issuance of directions to issue the RC of the vehicle to the complainant along with compensation of Rs.2 lac on account of mental as physical harassment and Rs.25,000/- as litigation expenses. The complaint is supported with affidavit of complainant along with the annexed documents. 

2.                We have heard the counsel for the complainant on the point of admissibility of the complaint and gone through the record.

3.                Counsel for the complainant has reiterated the version of the complaint in his arguments and further contended that on account of non-issuance of the RC of the vehicle in question, the complainant is not able to ply his vehicle on road as the same bears the temporary registration number. He has prayed for admissibility of the complaint at the preliminary stage.

4.                Before admitting of the complaint at preliminary stage, this Commission is also required to examine as to whether the complaint is within time or not.

5.                Section 69 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provides as under:-

“Limitation Period:- (1)The District Commission, the State Commission or the National Commission shall not admit a complaint unless it is filed within two years from the date on which the cause of action has arisen.

2)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), a complaint may be entertained after the period specified in sub-section(1), if the complainant satisfies the District Commission, the State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be, that he had sufficient cause for not filing the complaint within such period;

Provided that no such complaint shall be entertained unless the District Commission or the State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be, records its reasons for condoning such delay.”

 

6.                Perusal of the complaint and annexed documents shows that the vehicle in question was purchased by the complainant 13.10.2014 and the said fact is also established from the documents Ex.C3 i.e. copy of temporary certificate of registration and retail invoice Ex.C6 annexed with the complaint. Further, as per the averments of the complainant made in the complaint, the complainant supplied the NOC to the OP after receiving the same from the company for applying the registration certificate. The said NOC is dated 25.09.2018 and copy of the same is Ex.C5 annexed with the complaint. It is evident that the transaction relates to the years 2014 and 2018. However, the present complaint has been filed by the complainant on 30.11.2023 i.e. after the expiry of period of limitation. No sufficient reasons have been shown in the complaint for non-filing of the same within the period of limitation nor any application for condonation of delay has been moved.

7.                In SBI versus B.S.Agriculture Industries(I) Civil Appeal No.2067 of 2002 decided on 20.03.2009 by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India whereby the Hon’ble Supreme Court has  made the following observations:-

“(t)he expression, ‘shall not admit a complaint’ occurring in Section 24-A[now, S.69(1) in the new CP Act, 2019] is sort of a legislative command to the consumer forum to examine on its own whether the complaint has been filed within the limitation period prescribed there under.”

It has been further observed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the aforesaid case that “(i)if the complaint is barred by time and yet, the consumer forum (Commission) decides the complaint on merits, the forum (Commission) would be committing an illegality and, therefore, the aggrieved party would be entitled to have such order set aside.”

 

8.                Consequently, the present complaint is time barred and we do not incline to proceed with the same and hence the same is hereby dismissed summarily at the admission stage itself. Copies of order be supplied to the complainant free of costs as per rules.

9.                File be indexed and consigned to record room, but after registering the same.

 (Monika Bhagat)                                (Sanjeev Batra)                      

                        Member                                    President      

Announced in Open Commission.

Dated:06.12.2023

Gurpreet Sharma