ITANAGAR, 12 Mar: The court of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Tinsukia, Assam, has found that the Tata Motors Ltd showed negligence in after-sale services after selling a ‘defective’ vehicle to an individual.
The court while delivering the judgment on a consumer protection case on 2 March directed the automobile manufacturing company to either replace the vehicle it had sold through its authorized dealer in Dibrugarh to the individual with a new one or pay a compensation of Rs 8 lakhs to the buyer within 2 months from the date of order with 12% interest from February 2016 till payment.
As per the court paper, the complainant, one Kenli Nyorak, of Aalo in West Siang district, had bought a Tata Xeon luxury crew cab, manufactured by Tata Motors, from an authorized dealer of the automobile maker in Assam’s Dibrugarh district in January 2016. The vehicle developed technical problems right from the time of the test drive, which was informed to the dealer. However, the individual was assured by the dealer that a team of technicians would be sent to Aalo to rectify the problem within a week. But the team never reached Aalo.
Thereafter, the individual took the defective vehicle to the Tata Motor service centres in Assam’s Lakhimpur district and Papum Pare district in Arunachal. But the defects remained even after repairs. He made several phone calls to the Tata Motors’ service assistance centre, seeking help, but to no avail.
It was also mentioned that the individual had bought the vehicle through a financer, for which he had to pay the installment on a regular basis, even though his vehicle had finally collapsed in November 2016.
The court further directed Tata Motors to pay an additional Rs 5 lakhs to the individual for the mental and physical harassment he suffered.
