HYDERABAD: Taking cognisance of the hardships, mental agony and anxiety faced by a 70-year-old man in trying to replace a damaged piece of wooden furniture, the Hyderabad Consumer Forum directed a Delhi-based transport company and its regional branch to jointly pay for deficiency of services.
V C Ananthan, a retired employee of ECIL, on June 11, last year received a gift of two rocking chairs (priced `6,200 each) from his nephew from a Gurgaon-based furniture company by paying delivery charges of `1,620 through Saurashtra Roadways Ltd, a Delhi-based transportation service company. On opening the consignment, he noticed that one of the chairs was damaged and he alerted the regional office which issued a certificate of damage and advised him to reach out to the Delhi office.
However, the regional branch offered to repair the chair but the complainant was not happy with the idea and wanted a refund for the damaged chair. But, in spite of repeated calls and e-mails that fetched no response, the vexed veterans’ visit to the consumer forum paid positive results.
“The key was that I had all proofs with me. Photographs, bills, and e-mails, I preserved everything which led to the consumer forum to give the order in my favour,” said Ananthan, who visited the forum on five occasions.The court observed that the “opposite party failed in their duty to deliver the consignment safely ....which is acknowledged by the regional office and a liability arises by delivering the goods in a damaged condition,” order copy read.
Pronouncing the judgment in just a few days after a year of the incident, the three bench court saw merit in the arguments made by the consumer and ordered the two companies to jointly pay `6,200 towards the cost of the chair, besides `10,000 for compensation and `5,000 towards court charges. The court directed the transport company to pay the total amount within a month failing which, an interest of 9 per cent will be compounded to `6,200 until realisation.