Parking lot management responsible for vehicle safety: Bengaluru consumer court

BENGALURU: The management of a parking lot which collects fee is solely responsible for the safety of the parked vehicle and must pay compensation to the owner in case of damage or loss, a Bengaluru consumer court has ruled.
The court heard the plea of a 28-year-old man whose bike had gone missing from the parking lot of a mall in Bellandur. The court ordered the management to pay him Rs 1,06,288 towards the stolen bike, Rs 10,000 for careless attitude and Rs 5,000 for court expenses, all within 45 days.
On August 3, 2019, HSR Layout resident Narayanaswamy KV arrived at the Central Spirit Mall on his KTM RC 200 motorcycle to watch a movie. He parked his vehicle at the designated paid parking lot of the mall and went to the movie hall after collecting the slip. When he came back, he was shocked to realise his bike was missing. He questioned the parking attendants of the mall who stated that they're not responsible for the damage or loss of the vehicle.
An irked Narayanaswamy rushed to the nearby police station and got an FIR registered. Police later established that the vehicle was stolen from the parking lot despite the obligation of the attendants needing to keep a watchful eye.
He reached out to Soul Space Spirit that operated the mall but was turned away with an excuse that the "well-being of parked vehicles in their space isn't the mall management's responsibility" despite them collecting a fee.
This prompted the youngster to approach the Bangalore 4th Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Shantinagar in August 2020 with a complaint against the mall management and Valetez Services Pvt. Ltd, the IT agency providing technical support for the parking scheme at the mall.
Soul Space Spirit representatives failed to appear in the court despite being served a notice. The attorney, who appeared for Valetez Services, stated that they were only the software providers and maintainers for parking at the mall and don't have any connection with the physical parking system and do not have any contract with the complainant.
On April 28, 2023, the court noted that when the parking ticket is issued by the mall, it has agreed and entered into a contract of giving service and also when the complainant agreed for the same by accepting their service for a fee.
Despite this, the loss of the motorcycle under their custody is a clear case of the management's negligence and deficiency in service during the course of offering the paid service to the complainant. Any loss or damage to the complainant's property must be compensated, the judges said. However, the complaint against Valetez was dismissed.