A Gujarat State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered Tata’s authorised service centre Riya Autolink to pay Rs 60,000 after a customer’s FASTag showed that his car had crossed a Haryana toll plaza while the vehicle was supposed to be undergoing accident repairs in Ahmedabad.
The commission awarded Dr Dinesh Thakur Rs 50,000 as compensation for deficiency in service and Rs 10,000 towards litigation costs. It found no fault with IDFC First Bank, which had earlier agreed to refund the Rs 80 toll deduction.
Thakur, who bought the car in 2020, left it at Riya Autolink in Bopal on Aug 5, 2023, following an accident. He subsequently travelled abroad. On Sept 5, 2023, he received an alert that Rs 80 had been deducted from his FASTag account for a transaction at Daula Toll Plaza at Kherki on the Jaipur-Delhi highway a day earlier.
The toll transaction raised questions about how the vehicle could have reached Haryana while it was in the service centre’s custody. Thakur first approached the Ahmedabad District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission. The district panel directed IDFC First Bank to refund the deducted amount but did not grant compensation.
Thakur then appealed before the state commission, seeking compensation from the service centre for allowing the vehicle to move without his permission. Riya Autolink denied taking the car outside the workshop and relied on its gate-pass records. The service centre also argued that a FASTag deduction alone could not establish that it had moved the vehicle.
The bank maintained that it had no control over the vehicle’s movement while the car was in the service centre’s custody. It said it was willing to refund the toll deduction but denied any deficiency on its part.
The state commission accepted the bank’s position but rejected the service centre’s defence. It said the FASTag transaction certificate and fitment certificate established that the tag linked to Thakur’s vehicle had been used at the Haryana toll plaza.
The commission observed that the service centre’s evidence was “insufficient by itself to conclusively establish that the vehicle was never moved outside the workshop”. It added that the documentary record supported Thakur’s case that the FASTag linked to his car was recorded as having been used at Kherki Daula Plaza on Sept 4, 2023, and that Rs 80 had been deducted towards toll charges.
The ruling places weight on electronic toll records in a dispute over the custody and movement of a vehicle submitted for repairs. FASTag alerts and transaction certificates can create a time-stamped record of toll use, while fitment records link the electronic tag to a specific vehicle.
The commission’s order requires Riya Autolink to pay the total Rs 60,000 awarded to Thakur. IDFC First Bank was not held liable for the vehicle’s movement or the service centre’s conduct.
