Hyderabad: GVK Mall fined for illegal parking fee

Hyderabad: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Hyderabad, has pulled up GVK Mall, Banjara Hills, for illegally imposing parking fee on a customer. 

The forum directed the mall to pay Rs 7,000 within 30 days as compensation to the complainant.

This is the second such judgement against a commercial establishment by a consumer court in the state. 

The first one was against the Maheshwari Parmeshwari Mall at Kacheguda crossroads in August this year.

The forum held that GVK Mall had illegally charged parking fees which was against Government Order (GO) 168 of 2012, which states that no commercial complex or residential complex has the right to charge parking fee and the provision of AP/TS Apartments Act (Promotion of construction and ownership Act 1987) states that selling, leasing and misusing common areas and facilities is prohibited. 

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mr Vijay Gopal, president of Forum Against Corruption, who had filed the complaint, said, “In January this year, I went to watch a movie in GVK Mall and parked the vehicle there. Despite the GO clearly stating that commercial complexes have no right to charge parking fee they charged me Rs 50.”

The mall management defended itself in the redressal forum that they were collecting parking fee of Rs 20 for two-wheelers and Rs 30 for four-wheelers parking for the first two hours and Rs 10 extra for every hour.

This was being done only to curb the parking of vehicles by persons other than the visitors in its premises and from misusing the parking space, the mall management's representative said.

In the first ever such case, the MP Mall was directed to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation for causing mental trauma to the complainant. 

An additional Rs 5,000 had been imposed as fine to be paid to the court. 

The court had given the mall owner 30 days to pay the amount and failing to do so would attract an additional 7 per cent interest per annum from the date of expiry of 30 days till the date the amount is paid in full, read the judgement.