Maruti dealer pays Rs 1L for delivering defective car

Few days back  a Maruti dealer paid the price for delivering a defective car as a brand new vehicle. For this unfair trade practice, the National Consumer Commission has now ordered the dealer to pay a compensation of Rs one lakh. 

The Commission said that the loss, injury and harassment that has been suffered by the complainant due to the delivery of a defective vehicle to him in the garb of a brand new vehicle, should be compensated in the form of a sum of at least Rs one lakh by the dealer. The complainant is D K Raman who purchased a SuzuMaruti Esteem LX in 1996 and later on approached the NCDRC for relief. He had also approached  the Maharashtra State Commission but his plea was rejected there.

The Commission which was headed by Justice R C Jain also imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the dealer. Dealers, Sah and Sanghi Auto Agencies Private Limited have been charged to pay this compensation for the deficiency in their service. The Commission said that sufficient material was brought on record to show that the vehicle in question had met with an accident while in transit. The Commission also rejected the contention of the dealer that the vehicle was purchased by the partnership firm for some commercial purposes.

The NCDRC said that just because the vehicle has been purchased by a partnership firm, it cannot be said that it was purchased for any commercial purpose because it was neither intended to be resold with a view to earning any profit nor for running it as a commercial transport.