Hotel owner must pay compensation if vehicle stolen in Vale parking lot: Supreme Court

New Delhi, November 17, 2019, Sunday

In a significant Supreme Court judgment, the hotel owner could not say no to compensation if the vehicle kept in the Vale parking lot was stolen. The Supreme Court has also ruled that the commercial premises of a hotel that offers a valet parking can not escape its liability.

The background of this whole case is that on 1-8-1998, a man from Delhi handed the keys of his Maruti Zen car to the hotel staff in the Delhi-based Five Star Hotel Taj for parking the hotel.

After leaving the hotel, he questioned the hotel staff who did not see his car in the parking lot. After a little investigation it was revealed that after the man parked the car, the three youths came to the hotel in a car and he also gave a car for Vale parking.

When the three youths got out, a man at the Vale parking table went to pick up a car in the parking lot to pick up his car. In the meantime a young man had stolen Maruti Zen's key from there and after some time he got out of the car.

The person demanding compensation from the hotel, the hotel said that it was written within the reach of the Vale parking lot under the heading of important instruction that the hotel will not be responsible for any loss due to the convenience of the Vale parking because of the visitor's request. The car insurance company and the car's owner both filed a case against the hotel in the consumer commission.

So this guy made a claim in the Consumer Commission. A few days ago, the National Consumer Commission ruled that the hotel had ordered the person to pay Rs 50,000 for the value of the car at interest rate of Rs 2.80 lakh 12 per cent and Rs 50,000 for the cost of the case. Against which the hotel had appealed to the Supreme Court.

Justice M.M. A bench of Justices Shantanagouder and Justice Ajay Rastogi rejected the hotel's appeal, saying that under the contract act, when a person gives his car keys to the hotel as a parking lot, there is a clear condition that the owner of the vehicle wants it on the vehicle, which is safe and in the condition given to it. This should be returned to the current state.

Valet parking is different than normal parking. In the normal parking system, the vehiclemaker has to park the vehicle in search of a suitable place, while the hotel or the operator of the Vale Parking cannot say that they are not obliged to compensate for the loss.