Tata Motors Pays Rs 4.6 Lakh As Faulty Service Compensation To Indica Owner, After His Death!

As per the directive, the two parties have to refund a sum of Rs 4,58,853 to Mumbai resident Late Abhay R Bhatwadekar. In addition to this, a litigation cost of Rs 10,000 has also been awarded by the bench comprising President R K Agarwal and Member, M Shreesha.

"In the absence of any documentary evidence to substantiate that the car was indeed delivered to the complainant (Bhatwadekar), we are of the considered view that there is deficiency of service on the part of the manufacturer and the dealer," NCDRC stated in the order.

The commission also added that the car had visited the dealership for service while it was within warranty and under 2,500 kilometres on its odometer. Bhatwadekar bought the Tata Indica in May 2000. He was promised a delivery date of May 15 back then but the delivery happened only on May 26.

Bhatwadekar had apparently refused to take the delivery of the car since the car was "not in a roadworthy condition". The car was suspected of electrical issues and the dealership was blamed for delivering the car to Bharwadekar's residence without even having his consent.

The dealership officials also couldn't submit substantial reasons as to why they didn't take back the car after Bhatwadekar refused to sign the delivery receipt (due to the suspected defects). The bench commented, "It is not understood as to why the dealer did not follow the regular procedure of taking an acknowledgement at the time of delivery."

On the other hand, Tata Motors claimed that the Indica was indeed delivered to the owner after rectifying the minor flaws of the car but they couldn't get an acknowledgment in writing from him. However, the final verdict was on Bhatwadekar's side.

Thoughts On Tata Motors Paying Over Rs 4.5 Lakh To An Indica Owner

Incidents such as these usually happen in our country but in most cases, we can't actually blame the brand. Brand such as Tata Motors works with a certain set of principles while giving high priority to customer satisfaction. However, some dealerships often tend to damage the brand's image by conducting false business practices. If we view from a dealership perspective too, the entire blame cannot come on them but the individuals involved.