I filed a case against a dealership for handling charges & won, but...

During the case Mahindra dusted itself off from any responsibility as it stated that this is between the Customer and Dealer .

BHPian raja_ys recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Update on my case regarding "Illegal Handling or Logistic charges by Dealers"

• Nov 2014: Booked a Scorpio from Koncept Mahindra, Lajpat Nagar, Delhi

• Dec 2014: Vehicle arrived and told to pay the balances of payments.

• Objected to the Illegal handling/logistic charges of Rs 7500, Dealer said this was a valid charge as per a positive court order in favor of them.

• Jan 2015: Vehicle delivered but unconvinced of the illegal charges wrote to Mahindra who forwarded my issue back to dealer. They produced a court order but upon reading the content it was a irrelevant order to my cause.

• Wrote back to Mahindra but no solution as they supported the Dealer.

• Now turned to the Delhi Transport Dept but no respite as they directed me to an RTO out of Jurisdiction, The MLO heard my complaint verbally and said he will look into it.Further follow up resulted in no result.

• May 2016: Filed a case in the Delhi Consumer Forum against Mahindra and Koncept Automobiles, what normally would be a 2-3 year time period turned out to 6 long years due to Covid and Delhi Govt's Non appointment of Members/President to the Quorum.

• During the case Mahindra dusted itself off from any responsibility as it stated that this is between the Customer and Dealer and have received any part or share of these charges and also acknowledged that these charges are illegal in nature

• Dealer produced a letter written by Mahindra which was vaguely acknowledging that its aware of dealers collecting such charges and to address the RTO

• Mahindra later issued a notification advising all dealers pan India to stop collecting such illegal handling/logistic charges

June 2022

The case was completed and orders issued as follows:-

• Dealer to return Rs 7500 with 9% interest from date of invoice

• Dealer to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation or penalty for misleading the Forum that Mahindra allowed them to collect these charges (within 2 months from order else a interest of 10% till realization)

• Mahindra may also consider for cancellation of its dealership of its products as Koncept Mahindra has tried to put blame on the manufacturer.

• The Transport Dept, Govt of Delhi has to take necessary action against the Dealer for undue charges.

Its been around 40 days so far and no response from Mahindra or Dealer, so what should i do hereon, any suggestions or advice

Also observed in majority of cases either one of the party would be absent leading to further dates resulting in longer tenures for case resolutions, inspite of all the difficulties found the Forum to be very friendly and patient enough to hear all parties to a case.

Special thanks to friend and Supreme and High Court Lawyer Mr Abhinav Jain for helping out with the formalities of filing and proceedings during the case.

Any suggestions or advice on the below 2 parts:-

Part 1

If in case the Dealer does not appeal at the State Commission;

• Will the refund be made directly to me or through court?

• Is the compensation payable to me or payable to court as penalty as in Order pronounced as Compensation or penalty?

• Will Mahindra stand to ethics and look to cancel the dealership? How will I know what action has been taken?

• The RTO has not been a party to case and do not know wether an order copy has been forwarded to them, so is it my duty to inform them?

Part 2

In case the Dealer does not adhere to the court order within the stipulated time should I approach a civil court for execution of the order or should i go back to the same District Consumer Redressal Forum for future course of action?

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