Recently, BMW India Private Limited has been directed by the Supreme Court of India to pay a compensation of ₹50 lakhs to a customer for selling a defective car in 2009.
Supreme Court Overrules High Court Order: No New Car for Defective BMW, But ₹50 Lakh Compensation
The bench which gave this decision comprised of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra who also quashed the criminal case against BMW and its Managing Director and other officials.
GVR Infra Projects, the complainant in this case, bought a BMW 7 series vehicle in September 2009. As per them, a serious defect was detected which persisted even after the car was repaired by an authorised workshop.
Following this, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against BMW for cheating under Sections 418 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In the same, it was the manufacturer, Managing Director and other directors of BMW who were named as the accused.
In the year 2012, the Andhra Pradesh High Court quashed the proceedings against BMW with a direction that the company must provide a new car to the complainant in place of the defective one.
In the compliance to the order, BMW offered a new replacement car to the complainant, however, this was denied by the complainant and they instead demanded full refund of money along with interest.
This decision by the High Court was challenged by both the State of Andhra Pradesh and the complainant before the Supreme Court though BMW and its directors chose not to do so.
The Apex court took the exception to the direction given to the BMW for the replacement of the defective car even though the High Court had quashed the case against the car company.
The court said that “The High Court came to the conclusion that the ingredients of the offence of cheating were not established on the basis of the contents of the FIR. Having come to this conclusion, there was no justification for the High Court thereafter to direct the manufacturer to replace a brand new BMW 7 Series vehicle. The High Court had been moved by the manufacturer for quashing of the complaint under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. The High Court was required to address itself to whether a case for quashing was made out”.
15 Years Later: Supreme Court Awards ₹50 Lakh Compensation for Defective BMW
The Apex court said that given the nature of the dispute, which was confined only to a defective vehicle, allowing the prosecution to continue nearly 15 years after the dispute arose does not sub serve the interests of justice.
Hence the court decided to sustain the direction of High Court, which is holding the case against BMW, but instead in order to also meet the ends of justice, it invoked powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and directed BMW to compensate the complainant by paying ₹50 lakh.
As far as legal representation is considered, it was advocates Rajiv Kumar Choudhry, Sowri Dev and Tharini, who appeared for the appellants.
For BMW, the legal side included advocates Diwakar Maheshwari, Shreyas Edupuganti, Susmit Pushkar, Aarthi Rajan and S Udaya Kumar Sagar.
