Mobile handset manufacturer Motorola has been ordered by the district consumer forum to pay a compensation of Rs. 50,000 to a local resident for deficiency in service and unfair commercial practices.

The Thane District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum gave its ruling on a consumer complaint filed against the Gurgaon- based Motorola India Pvt Ltd. The judgement was given by Forum President Umesh Jhavalikar and member N D Kadam Saturday.

The complaint was filed by one Ramesh Shah, a resident of Vasai town in Thane district. Shah purchased a Motorola handset (Moto Ming - A1200) for Rs. 10,200 from a local dealer, Sanghavi Infocom, on April 13, 2008.

The next day Shah found the sound in the handset was feeble. He complained about the same to the dealer, who, however, insisted there was no fault in the mobile piece.

Later, a service centre of Motorola, Siddhivinayak Tele, attended to the complaint and rectified the fault.

However, Shah's woes did not end as he found more problems with the handset, which was finally replaced.

However, the new handset was also found to be faulty.

Finally, the service centre collected the handset on March 21, 2009 from Shah but never returned it.

The company could not resolve the problems which regularly cropped up in the handset, Shah said. Hence, he filed a complaint with the Forum seeking refund of the handset cost and Rs. 1 lakh towards compensation and legal expenses.

Motorola, in its submission, offered to replace the handset and wanted the Forum to dismiss the complaint.

In its order, the Forum made a reference to the same and said the replacement offer points to deficiency in service and unfair commercial practices resorted by the company.

Hence, the company needs to compensate the complainant.

The Forum asked the three respondents to pay a sum of Rs. 60,200 (Rs. 50,000 plus Rs. 10,200 handset cost) to the complainant within a period of 30 days the order.