BENGALURU: An engineer took on a renowned motorcycle manufacturer for defective parts and has won a case against the company’s CEO on his own.
Kolar District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum comprising Prathibha R K, president, and A C Lalitha, member, ordered the company on April 18 to pay the complainant the total cost of the bike and Rs 30,000 as compensation with interest of 9 per cent from the date of filing the complaint.
Puneeth, a software engineer, had bought a Royal Enfield Himalayan 411 CC bike for Rs 1.61 lakh on October 21, 2016. Soon after he found out that the bike’s parts were defective. He approached the Jagadamba Automobiles from where he bought the bike but there was no proper response. “I approached the helpline of Royal Enfield and engineers from Chennai came down and tested the vehicle but it was of no use,” said Puneeth. He said he asked the company to pay him for the bike but they refused to comply. “When there was no proper response from the company, I decided to file a case in consumer court. I gathered all the evidence and produced them before the court.
The CEO of Royal Enfield and Jagadamba Automobiles were made respondents in the case. Initially they did not appear for the hearing and when court marked as ex parte, the advocate appeared before the respondent,” he said.
For the case, Puneeth produced 62 pieces of evidence to prove that the bike was sold to him faulty parts. The forum, during the inspection, found more than 34 defects, including rusting of many parts such as engine, chassis, head light and said the bike was clearly a defective one.
Puneeth said that works as a freelance technology provider and is a member of Research and Development teams in more than 130 companies. “I know about automobile technology as I have studied it out of curiosity,” he said.
Asked about fighting the case on his own, he said, “Many advocates have sought my help help in technical aspects with regard to computers and automobiles. So I had an opportunity to learn the laws from them and this helped me in fighting my case. I also studied law during the court hearing.”