CCPA sends show cause notice to Ola Electric for misleading ads and unfair trade practices

New Delhi: The Central Consumer Protection Authority has issued a show cause notice to Ola Electric for alleged violation of consumer rights, misleading advertisement and unfair trade practices, according to a regulatory filing by the company.

The company received the show cause notice by email on October 7, 2024, Ola Electric said in the filing.

The show cause notice has been issued by the "Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) for alleged violations of consumer rights, misleading advertisement and unfair trade practices", it added.

The authority has provided a timeline of 15 days for the company to respond to the show cause notice, the filing said.

Further, the filing said the company would respond to the authority within the given timeframe with the supporting documents.

The notice comes after a war of words broke out between Ola founder Bhavish Agarwal and stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Sunday on social media platform X over the after-sales and service quality of the company's electric scooters.

Kamra had taken up after-sales and service issues faced by Ola Electric customers.

It started when Kamra responded to a post by Agarwal on X where the founder had posted a photo of Ola's gigafactory with several Ola Electric scooters that seemed to be waiting for servicing.

"Do Indian consumers have a voice? Do they deserve this? Two-wheelers are many daily wage workers' lifeline," Kamra wrote along with the photo.

He tagged Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, asking, "Is this how Indians will get to using EVs?"

The comedian also tagged the official handle of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, @jagograhakjago, seeking an answer saying "Any word?"  

Kamra further wrote, "Anyone who has an issue with OLA electric, leaves your story below tagging all.

To this, Agarwal responded, "Since you care so much, @kunalkamra88, come and help us out! I'll even pay more than you earned for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career. Or else sit quiet and let us focus on fixing the issues for the real customers."  

He further said, "We're expanding the service network fast and backlogs will be cleared soon."