State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
M/S Ashok Leyland Finance Ltd vs Lt(Dr)Sudesh Chanda (Retd) on 17 March, 2011
STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, PUNJAB,
SCO NOS.3009-12, SECTOR 22-D, CHANDIGARH.
First Appeal No.470 of 2005
Date of institution : 23.03.2005
Date of decision : 17.03.2011
M/s Ashok Leyland Finance Ltd Corporate office Sudarsan Building 86,
Chmiers Road Chennai through it Managing Director.
...Appellants
Versus
Lt(Dr)Sudesh Chanda (Retd) wife of Prem Sagar, resident of House
No.328 Block IV, Street No.12/2 Ahuja Colony, Abohar, Punjab.
...Respondent
First Appeal against the order dated
3.2.2005 passed by the District Consumer
Disputes Redressal Forum, Ferozepur.
Before:-
Hon'ble Mr.Justice S.N.Aggarwal, President
Mrs.Amarpreet Sharma, Member
Shri Baldev Singh Sekhon, Member Present:-
For the appellants : Sh.Dinesh Madra, Advocate with Ms.Manjit Kaur, Advocate.
For the respondent : Sh.Munish Goel, Advocate. BALDEV SINGH SEKHON, MEMBER This is an appeal filed by the appellants against the order dated 3.2.2010 passed by the learned District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Ferozepur (in short "District Forum"), wherein the complaint of respondent was accepted.
2. The facts of the case are that the respondent purchased a motor cycle LML Energy under Hire Purchase Agreement with the appellants who are doing the business of financing the vehicles under the Hire Purhcase Financing Scheme and their business activities are being carried out by M/s Ashok Leyland Finance Ltd. Hanumangarh Road c/o Oriental Tractors & Motors, Abohar, Tehsil Abohar (opposite party No.2 in the complaint). It was pleaded that sum of Rs.37,800/- was to be paid in First Appeal No.470 of 2005 2 18 instalments of Rs.2100/- each and the payment of instalments was to commence from 7.6.2001 till 7.11.2002 and the respondent issued post dated cheques of State Bank of India, Branch Abohar against bank account No.011900015055 for making payment against the instalments as per repayment schedule. It was further pleaded that some of the cheques presented by the appellants in the bank were allegedly dishonoured by State Bank of India, street No.4, Main Bazar, Branch Abohar (opposite party No.3 in the complaint) during the period 7.6.2001 to 7.11.2002 on the ground of insufficient funds in spite of fact that there was sufficient amount in the account of the respondent. The respondent paid the instalments as per the details given below:-
S.No. Cheque No. Due Date Date of encashment of the cheques 1 889902 7.6.2001 Payment made by bank draft on
19.9.2001 2 889901 7.7.2001 Payment made by bank draft on 19.9.2001.
3 889914 7.8.2001 24.4.2002 4 889903 7.9.2001 24.4.2002 5 889904 7.10.2001 24.4.2002 6 889905 7.11.2001 Payment by bank draft No.1721039 dt.28.2.2002 7 889906 7.12.2001 Payment in cash in lieu of cheque 8 889907 7.1.2002 30.1.2002 9 889908 7.2.2002 21.3.2002 10 889912 7.3.2002 19.4.2002 11 889910 7.4.2002 5.6.2002 12 889909 7.5.2002 25.7.2002 13 889911 7.6.2002 24.6.2002 14 889913 7.7.2002 17.7.2002 15 853760 7.8.2002 8.8.2002 16 853759 7.9.2002 Payment by bank draft No.1721039 dt.28.2.2002 17 853758 7.10.2002 9.10.2002 18 853757 7.11.2002 Payment by bank draft No.1721039 dt.28.2.2002.
It was also pleaded that 12 cheques presented in the bank were encashed, but 6 remaining cheques were dealt as per details below
a) Cheque at serial No.1 & 2 due on 7.6.2011 and 7.7.2011 were presented in the bank and were returned by the bank because of some error in the accounting of bank and not because of insufficient funds. First Appeal No.470 of 2005 3 Against these cheques, the respondent paid Rs.4200/- to the appellants by way of bank draft dated 19.9.2001.
b) Cheque at serial No.3, 4 & 5, which were required to be presented in the bank on dates 7.8.2001, 7.9.2001 and 7.10.2001 respectively, were presented in the bank in April, 2002. These were not honoured by the bank because these were presented after expiry of validity period of cheques.
c) The respondent made payment of Rs.6300/- by way of bank draft dated 25.5.2002 against the cheque at Sr.No.6, 16 & 18 as the appellants failed to present these cheques in the bank on due dates.
d) The respondent made payment of Rs.2100/- in cash to the appellants against cheque at Sr.No.7.
3. In this way, the respondent made payment of all 18 cheques in time and there were sufficient funds in the account of the respondent. It was further pleaded that after payment of all the instalments, the respondent requested the appellants to issue No Due Certificate in order to get the cancellation of hypothecation done which was entered in the registration certificate of the vehicle. Instead of issuance of No Due Certificate, the appellants raised a demand of Rs.13,000/- on account of interest and other charges and appellants had not given any detail of said demand. Inspite of repeated requests by the respondent, the appellants failed to issue No Due Certificate. Hence the complaint.
4. Upon notice, the appellants filed written statement in which it was pleaded that on 9.5.2001, the respondent approached the appellants company for finance of motor cycle LML Energy and the whole amount of Rs.43078/- was financed by the appellants company and Rs.7323/- was calculated as interest, which was to be paid by the respondent in 24 instalments of Rs.2100/- each. In this regard, a Hire Purchase Agreement was executed between the appellants and the respondent after admitting the same to be correct. It was pleaded that the respondent had paid only First Appeal No.470 of 2005 4 six instalments of Rs.2100/- each (total Rs.12600/-) in advance and the remaining Rs.37,800/- was to be paid in 18 equal instalments of Rs.2100/- and in this regard, the respondent had issued 18 numbers of cheques payable by 7th date of every month starting from 7.6.2011. It was agreed in the Hire Purchase Agreement that in case of dishonour any of the cheques, the dishonouring expenses to the tune of Rs.200/- will be born by the respondent. It was further pleaded that the cheques dated 7.8.2001, 7.9.2001 and 7.10.2001 were never encashed due to the reason that these cheques were presented after the validity of period of 6 months and the respondent had not paid the amount of these cheques till the date of filing of the complaint. It was further pleaded that the complainant cleverly sent a demand draft dated 28.2.2002 for Rs.6300/- against the cheques due on 7.9.2002, 7.10.2002 and 7.11.2002 which were yet to be presented by the appellants. Out of 18 cheques, only 10 cheques were passed by the bank and remaining 8 cheques were dishonoured and the bank had debited the expenses of dishonouring of the cheques in the account of the appellants. It was further pleaded that as per term of Hire Purchase Agreement, all the cheques issued by the respondent in discharge of his liability, were required to be encashed in time. If any cheque amount is not paid in time, then the respondent will pay the said cheque amount in cash or by way of draft in favour of the appellants, but the respondent had not done so at all. As a result a total sum of Rs.14,824.56/- is still due towards the respondent.
5. Parties led the evidence by way of affidavits and documents.
6. The learned District Forum accepted the complaint of the respondent and directed the appellants to issue No Due Certificate to the respondent and not to seize the vehicle of the respondent. A cost of Rs.500/- was also imposed.
7. Hence the appeal.
First Appeal No.470 of 2005 5
8. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the present dispute is only with regards to three number cheques amounting to Rs.6300/- along with interest, which were not honoured by the bank because these were presented out of date and no payment was made against these cheques by the respondent and prayed that appeal be accepted.
9. Learned counsel for the respondent submitted that appeal be dismissed.
10. Submissions were considered. Record was perused.
11. During the course of arguments, it was admitted by counsel for the appellants that dispute was with regard to only three number cheques which were due on 7.8.2001, 7.9.2001 and 7.10.2011 and were actually presented on 24.4.2002 in the bank. These cheques were dishonoured because these were presented after the expiry of validity period of 6 months. The respondent has himself tabulated the details of 18 numbers cheques and has also mentioned the date of clearance against each cheque. Perusal of this table shows that against cheques at Sr.No.3,4 & 5, it has been mentioned that these cheques were encashed on 24.4.2002, but the scrutiny of the pass book of the respondent as well as statement of account of the respondent placed on record by the respondent himself shows that these cheques were initially debited to the account of the respondent on 24.4.2002, but counter entries to all the three cheques also exist wherein the amount of Rs.6300/- was again credited to the account of respondent with the remarks the "cheques returned unpaid due to the cheques being out of date". The respondent has not stated how the payment against these outdated cheques was subsequently made by him and has deliberately not provided any detail as has been done in case of other cheques. It is, thus, evident that the respondent has not made any payment against these three cheques which were presented late by the appellants and appellants are entitled to recover Rs.6300/- from the First Appeal No.470 of 2005 6 respondent. But the appellants are not entitled to any late payment interest or the charges on account of dishonouring of cheques because the appellants themselves were at fault for not presenting the cheques in time. Moreover, it has also been confirmed from the statement of account that sufficient funds were available in the account of the respondent.
12. In view of the above discussion, the appeal of the appellants is partly accepted and the respondent is directed to make the payment of Rs.6300/- within one month after the receipt of copy of order, failing which interest at the rate of 9% per annum with effect from today will be recoverable. The appellants are directed to issue No Due Certificate within a week after the payment is made by the respondent. The order of the District Forum is set aside.
13. The appellants had deposited Rs.250/- in this Commission at the time of filing of appeal on 23.3.2005. This amount along with interest, if any, be refunded to the appellants by way of crossed cheque / bank draft after expiry of 45 days.
14. The appeal could not be decided within the statutory period due to heavy pendency of court cases.
(Justice S.N.Aggarwal) President (Mrs.Amarpeet Sharma) Member (Baldev Singh Sekhon) Member March 17, 2011.
Davinder