Date of filing:-16/12/2017.
Date of Order:-19/08/2019.
DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM(COURT)
B A R G A R H.
Consumer Complaint No. 64 of 2017.
Tirthabasi Barik S/o. Late Gadadhara Barik, aged about 67(sixty seven)years, R/o/Vill-Haldipali, P.o./Dist- Bargarh.
….........................Complaint
-: V e r s u s :-
Executive Engineer, Bargarh Electrical Division, WESCO, Bargarh P.o/P.s/Dist:- Bargarh.
Sub-Divisional Officer, WESCO, Bargarh, P.o/P.s/Dist-Bargarh .
.....................Opposite Parties .
Counsel for the Parties:-
For the Complainant :- Sri R.K.Satpathy, Advocate with other Advocates.
For the Opposite Parties :- Sri T.C.Tripathy, Advocate with other Advocates.
-: P R E S E N T :-
Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... P r e s i d e n t.
Ajanta Subhadarsinee ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... M e m b e r (W).
Dt.19/08/2019 -: J U D G E M E N T:-
Presented by Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra, President:-
Brief fact of the case ;-
In pursuance to the provision U/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 the complainant has filed the case on the following ground to redress his dispute with the Opposite Parties.
The case of the Complainant is that he being a consumer of the Opposite Parties having been supplied with electricity energy vide his Consumer No DOM-124-31/05 to his house and was using the same for his domestic purpose but in 2011 December the National Highway Authority acquired his said house building over which his said connection was given and demolished the same for their road construction as a result of which the said connection of the Complainant was disconnected and since then he has not been given the electricity connection till yet but to his surprise in the month of March-2015 he received a bill amounting to Rs.32,975 /-(Rupees thirty two thousand nine hundred seventy five)only Dt.13.03.2015 was issued in his name and in response to which he complained before the Opposite Parties and requested them to give him reconnection to his nearby new building and in that case he was ready to pay the reconnection charges and some pending reconciliated bill amounting to Rs.5,000/-(Rupees five thousand)only. But however they compelled the Complainant to pay the reconnection charges of Rs.150/-(Rupees one hundred fifty)oly and an amount of Rs.9,850/-(Rupees nine thousand eight hundred fifty)only to which also he paid vide their Receipt No.6616196 and 6616195 respectively.
The further case of the Complainant is that on Dt.19.06.2017 while the marriage ceremony was going on, some persons of the Opposite Parties came to his house and seized meter and took the signature of his son without assigning any reason later on the Complainant could know that some extraordinary use of electricity have been shown and have been charged accordingly without any basis and subsequently thereafter he was served with a bill amounting to Rs.90,471/-(Rupees ninety thousand four hundred seventy one)only showing Rs.30,204/-(Rupees thirty thousand two hundred four)only as arrear bill and as sundry adjustment of Rs.50,704/-(Rupees fifty thousand seven hundred four)only and provisional bill amounting to Rs.1,594.29/-(Rupees one thousand five hundred ninety four)only which according to him amounts to unfair trade practice as such has undergone a lot of mental agony and have claimed for some relief as to installment of a meter, for issuing a bill afresh and to waive out the bill issued to him along with a prayer for some compensation for his harassment and in his support has filed some following documents:-
Bill Dt.19.10.2017.
Receipt No.1986086 of Dt.16.03.2017.
Receipt No.9765134 of Dt.24.1.2017.
Receipt No. 3491051 of Dt.04.09.16.
Receipt No.3491052 of Dt.08.09.2016.
Inspection report of Dt.19.6.17.
Receipt No.6616195 & 6616196 of Dt.08.04.15.
Complaint Dt.08.04.15.
Bill Dt.13.03.15.
Having gone through the Complaint the documents and hearing the Counsel for the complainant the case seems to be a genuine one hence admitted and on being noticed the Opposite parties appeared before the Forum through their Advocate and have filed their version.
The rival contention of the Opposite Parties is a completely denial one, beside that has also contended in it’s version challenging the maintainability of the case in view of the case being involved with the penal provision U/s 126 of Electricity Act and others. Also it has averted in it’s version that the Complainant being a consumer of their WESCO has been provided with uninterrupted service and a huge amount of due amounting to Rs.38,265/-(Rupees thirty eight thousand two hundred sixty five)only till august 2017 is pending against him.
Again the Opposite Parties have also admitted that due to partial demolition of the building of the Complainant from Jun-2013 to March-2015 he was served with provisional bill and even though N.H. Division of Government has acquired the land of the Complainant there was no disruption of power supply from their side and as his bill were being accumulated was issued a bill of the aforesaid amount till August-2017.
In furtherance to their averments also has contended that their authorized officer have conducted raid and in the mean time on Dt.19.06.2017 have found the connection of the Complainant has been tempered and as such have fixed penalty on him under the relevant provision of the Act and have alleged against the Complainant to have taken the shelter of the Forum to escape from such liability as such he has been charged with Rs.90,503/-(Rupees ninety thousand five hundred three)only including the pending dues against him to which he has not preferred to object before the proper authority and hence has claimed that as the case is not maintainable before the Forum the case is liable to be dismissed.
In this Connection the Opposite Parties have filed certain documents vide Annexture 1(one) and 2(two) i.e the copy of the Calculation sheets of the pending due on the Complainant and the physical verification report of the authorized officer of his concern.
Having gone through the contents of the Complaint and it’s supporting documents and the version of the Opposite Parties along with it’s documents. We feel it necessary to adjudicate the following issues in deciding the case .
Whether the case is maintainable in the Forum.
Whether the Opposite Parties have committed deficiencies in service/unfair trade practice against the Complainant.
To what relief the complainant is entitled for.
The learned counsels of the respective parties placed their documents and their views to substantiate their respective cases at length and summing up all the materials available in the record and on hearing the respective counsels while dealing with Issues No. (i) as to whether the case is maintainable in the Forum in it’s present form and whether the Opposite Parties have committed unfair trade practice and deficiencies in rendering service, it came to our notice that the Complainant has substantiated his plea of the contents of his petition that his structure on which he has got his service line was demolished by the Governments order while N.H. work was in progress and subsequently thereafter has also proved his plea of the application for reconnection of power supply to his house and also has proved his case of payments of a partial payments of arrear dues fixed on him by the Opposite Parties in this contexts the next question arises as to whether the claim of the Opposite Parties with regard to his contention as to whether uninterrupted service was provided with the Complainant is there or not, while delving deep into the matter it reveals from the record that the bill issued against the Complainant are all provisional one so it creates a cloud of doubt before us that if uninterrupted power supply was there and if there was no disconnection then what made the Opposite Parties to issue provisional bill instead of actual bill further more it clearly reveals from the money receipt Dt.80.04.2015 worth of Rs.150/-(Rupees one hundred fifty)only issued by the Opposite Parties with regard to the reconnection charges and another money Receipt Dt. 08.04.2015 issued against the payments of arrear bill worth of Rs.9,850/-(Rupees nine thousand eight hundred fifty)only more so in case the survey was conducted when one marriage ceremony in the house of the Complainant was going on and also they did not bother to take the signature of the Complainant himself in the physical verification report in stead of taking signature of his son that too without assigning any reason. So in view of such circumstances it clearly speaks about the malafide intention of the Opposite Parties as alleged by the Complainant hence cannot be brushed aside more so the receipt of a payment of the bill amounting to Rs.9,850/- (Rupees nine thousand eight hundred fifty)only and the reconnection charges of Rs.150/-(Rupees one hundred fifty)only establishes that it is a dispute with regard to bill issued to the Complainant and payment made thereto and as such in our prudent view the imposition of the penal bill along with the arrear amount on the Complainant is found to be illegal one which in our view amounts to unfair trade practice coupled with deficiencies of service on the part of the Opposite Parties hence the case is very much maintainable in view of the provision U/s 3 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 as it is an addition to any other Law for the time being in force but not in derogation to the same which corresponds to the provision of Electricity Act U/s 175 also and since there is no ambiguity in the case we don’t feel it necessary to refer the citation quoted by the Advocate for the Opposite Parties as such the Issues No (i) & (ii) being clubbed together is answered accordingly in favor of the Complainant.
Thirdly while dealing with the question as to what relief, the Complainant is entitled for, as we have already discussed the entire facts and Law relating to the case in details in our foregoing paragraphs and in view of our consensus view expressed thereupon, our views with regard to the relief sought for by the Complainant is that he is entitled for installation of a fresh meter and calculation of the proportionate use of the electricity by him. Hence Order.
-: O R D E R :-
Hence the Opposite Parties being liable jointly and severally are directed to install a meter afresh and a fresh calculation of the use of the electricity by the Complainant be made and a fresh bill be supplied with the Complainant in accordance with his consumption of the same within thirty days from the date of the Order and as also directed to waive out the bill issued earlier to the Complainant.
Accordingly the case is disposed off without cost to-day i.e on Dt.19.08.2019 being pronounced in the open Forum.
Typed to my dictation
and corrected by me.
( Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra)
P r e s i d e n t.
I agree,
( Ajanta Subhadarsinee)
M e m b e r (W)
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Sri Dusmanta Padhan
Office Assistant, Bargarh
