Dgir Probe Into Telco Stalled

The DGIR had earlier filed a criminal case against Telco for non-compliance with its directives. Besides Ratan Tata, the chairman of Telco, 17 other directors including Nani Palkhivala were co-accused in the criminal case filed by the DGIR. Sardar Ali, chairman of the MRTPC, refused to comment on the issue since the case was sub judice. A faxed questionnaire to Tata Services Ltd for their comment did not elicit any reply till the time of filing this report.

The DGIR had filed a criminal case against Telco as it had knowingly and wilfully not supplied the information required by the directorate within the stipulated time period. The information was sought as part of the DGIRsprobe into the Telcos alleged unfair trade practice of charging the full price of the vehicles as advance by the Telco dealers.

 

DGIR officials said Telco had earlier approached for an out-of-court settlement. However, it refused to withdraw the case against Telco on grounds of legalities. The criminal case does not come under the category of cases listed by the high court which can be compounded, said DGIR legal experts.

According to officials, senior executives from the company had visited the DGIR office premises a few weeks ago with a request for compounding the case against the company. Since the company had now complied with the DGIR directives and the customer had also withdrawn the complaint, the issue could be settled outside the court, the officials had pleaded.

In a faxed statement, Tata Services said, The customers case against Telco and its Kolhapur dealer, which had led to preliminary investigation by the DGIR, was settled amicably on August 10. The letter of the customer addressed to MRTPC, withdrawing the complaint, was filed with the DGIR.