Cricketer Dinesh Karthik moves Consumer Forum against DC Avanti Car

In Dec 2006, India played its first ever T20 at Johannesburg – do you what happened in the match ?and who was the Man of the Match ??

In Feb 2015  Richard Madley,  again conducted IPL auction  at Bengaluru….   For the second successive year, Yuvraj Singh attracted a record bid in the IPL auction, this time from Delhi Daredevils who purchased the allrounder for Rs 16 crore; Dinesh Karthik - who had attracted a bid of Rs 12.5 crore ($2.08 million) last year - was signed by Royal Challengers for Rs 10.5 crore (approx. $1.75 million).  With Dhoni having retired from Test, it is Wriddhiman Saha at Sri Lanka, and Karthik is not in the national scene.

There are luxury cars ~ and Audi got associated with Ravi Shastri with that 1985 World Championship tourney.  The DC Avanti is a sports car produced by DC Design, an Indian design firm headed by Dilip Chhabria. Its name was based on the Studebaker Avanti and it is a reference to The Adventures of Tintin comics. It was unveiled at the 2012 Auto Expo in Delhi. The standard petrol 2000cc version is priced approx. Rs.36.60 lakhs.

Krishna Kumar Dinesh Karthik, the wicketkeeper-batsman made his debut for the Indian cricket team in 2004 and was a regular member of the team for varying periods since then, including a stint in 2007 as a specialist opening batsman and non-wicket-keeper. Karthik was selected in August 2004 for the ODI team, after the selectors decided to cease using Rahul Dravid as a makeshift wicket-keeper. He played in the  match against England at Lord's. 

Recently DK was in news as he married squash star Dipika Pallikal.  Today’s Times of India reports that DK has moved a consumer forum in the city seeking compensation from automobile designer Dilip Chhabria for his failure to refund the booking amount for a sports car worth `35 lakh.

In his petition, Karthik said he booked a DC Avanti car at the Chennai dealership of DC Design Pvt Ltd by paying `5 lakh in May 2013. The car seller promised to arrange a test drive by January 2014. The dealer said if Karthik was satisfied with the car after the test drive, the vehicle would be delivered the next month, and if not, the booking amount would be refunded. The dealer, however, failed to arrange for a test drive within the stipulated time. “Despite a slew of reminders, they kept silent on the delivery timeline,“Karthik said.It was only in April 2015 that Chhabria's company responded to Karthik's emails and said the car was available for test drive only in Pune. “A consumer cannot be expected to enter any legally enforceable purchase agreement without seeing and, assessing the final product especially for something as big as a car that involves among other aspects, safety and comfort,“ said Karthik When he finally test drove the car on May 18, 2015.  Karthik  found “the specifications and the driving comfort did not match the glib marketing pitch.

When Karthik sought refund of the booking amount the car seller said it could not repay the amount as he had already taken a test drive. After he sent a legal notice, the company said he had already accepted and signed the terms of the car purchase. It also said refund was not possible according to the terms and condition of the car seller's refund policy. Karthik,  said the dealer failed to produce a copy of the document which he had allegedly signed. He wanted the forum,  direct the dealer to refund the booking amount along with interest and pay a compensation of `5 lakh for causing mental agony.

“It's not so much about the money involved as much as it is about the principle of fairness,“Karthik told TOI. He also said he was entitled to get refund as the dealer did not meet the delivery deadline and failed to arrange for a test drive in Chennai. His counsel Sanjay Pinto said, “The crux of the dispute is whether or not the conduct of the opposite party constitutes an unfair trade practice.How can one possibly expect a consumer to forfeit the entire advance when he is not satisfied with the product? - No law will permit that.”

The matter came up for hearing recently and the district consumer disputes redressal forum, south Chennai, has posted it to September 23, 2015 for further hearing.

In the first T20 for India against South Africa, SA set a target of 126.  In the final over bowled by RJ Peterson, 9 were required.  Dinesh Karthik hit the 1^st ball for a six – then rotated the strike.  India won by 6 wickets with a ball to spare.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

27^th Aug 2015.