Date of filing:- 22/07/2017.
Date of Order:-23/10/2019.
DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTE REDRESSAL FORUM(COURT)
B A R G A R H.
Consumer Complaint No. 36 of 2017.
Gitanjali Rath, aged about 65(sixty five) years,C/o- Achutananda Rath, Occupation-Housewife, R/o. W.No.2(two) Bijayanagar, Padampur, Po.Rajborasambar, Ps. Padampur, Dist-Bargarh ..... ..... ..... ..... .... Complainant.
-: V e r s u s :-
Sectional Officer(Electrical), Padampur Section No.1, WESCO Ltd., Padampur Po/Ps. Padampur, Dist-Bargarh.
S.D.O.(Electrical), WESCO Ltd., Padampur, Po/Ps. Padampur, Dist-Bargarh.
Executive Engineer, West Electrical Division,WESCO Ltd., At-Bandutikra, Bargarh N.H.-6, Dist-Bargarh.
Superintending Engineer, WESCO Ltd., At- Bhatli Chowk, Dist-Bargarh. ..... ..... ..... Opposite Parties.
Counsel for the Parties:-
For the Complainant :- Sri R.C.Meher, Advocate with others Advocates.
For the Opposite Parties :- Sri P.K.Acharya, Advocate with others 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.23/10/2019. -: 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 section 12 of the Consumer Dispute Act 1986, the Complainant preferred to file the case with an allegation of unfair trade practice and deficiencies of service against the Opposite Parties on the following ground.
The Complainant is a consumer of the Opposite Parties having being issued with a Consumer No-415201170025 /515201170025 and was being supplied with the electricity energy by the Opposite Parties for his domestic use and was paying his due payment of bill against his use of the same issued by the Opposite Parties since more than 30(thirty) yrs without any disturbance or any dispute and in the month of July-2008 he was issued with a bill amounting to Rs.1,192/-(Rupees one thousand one hundred ninety two)only with some arrear bill accordingly he paid the same on Dt.22.08.2008 vide Receipt No.121766150 and cleared to zero balance of the arrear bill too.
In furtherance to his case on Dt.03.09.2008 he was issued with another bill of Rs.1,486(Rupees one thousand four hundred eighty six)only for the month of August-2008 for his consumption of 143(one hundred forty three) unit of energy including Rs.1,212/-(Rupees one thousand two hundred twelve)only as the arrear bill which is in his view was an illegal one but however she paid Rs.309/-(Rupees three hundred nine)only for the said month vide Receipt No.12190358 and approached the Opposite Party No.1(one) & No.2(two) to rectify the said bill and issue her with a fresh one but they did not respond and again in the month of September issued with another bill amounting to Rs.1,552/-(Rupees one thousand five hundred fifty two)only mentioning an amount of Rs.1,177 /-(Rupees one thousand one hundred seventy seven)only as arrear bill to which she objected before the Opposite Parties and paid Rs.868/-(Rupees eight hundred sixty eight)only but in spite of her repeated objection the Opposite Parties kept on sending her with such inflated bills again and again so being helpless she continued in paying the usual bills as on different dates such as on Dt.15.03.15. paid Rs.10,000/-(Rupees ten thousand)only vide Receipt No.A61696184, Rs.3,000/-(Rupees three thousand)only on Dt.30.11.15, vide Receipt No-A7 6229062, Rs.5,000/-(Rupees five thousand)only vide Receipt No-A8 3860016, Rs.4,000/-(Rupees five thousand)only on Dt.15.11.2016 vide Receipt No. A95017094, Rs.5,000/-(Rupees five thousand)only on Dt 27.12.2016 vide Receipt No-B10013198, Rs.10,000/-(Rupees ten thousand)only on Dt.21.03.17 vide Receipt No-B14325164 and lastly Rs.5,608/-(Rupees five thousand six hundred eight)only on Dt.22.06.2017 and her further case is that again the Opposite Parties have issued another bill amounting to Rs.1,33,011/-(Rupees one lakh thirty three thousand eleven)only along with the monthly bill of May-2017.
In furtherance to her case at the time of installation of her connection one black model meter was installed by the Opposite Parties which was smoothly running but the reason best known to them as they installed another Chinese meter side by side with previous one and on their finding as the same was giving less reading so on for third time they changed the same meters on different pretext and have been issuing provisional bill instead of actual bill consequent upon which the Complainant made several complain before them but to no effect so she kept paying the usual amount of bill in different time but to her surprise the Opposite Parties suddenly disconnected the supply of energy to her in her absent arbitrarily without serving her with any prior Notice putting her with great mental physical and financial harassment which of such Act on their part amounts to unfair trade practice and deficiencies of service thus is the cause of action in filing the case along with a petition U/s 13(3) B of the Act and claiming an amount of Rs.2,60,000/-(Rupees two lakh sixty thousand)only as compensation and litigation expenses and in substantiating her case has relied on the following documents such as (i) Sixteen numbers of electric bill and (ii) Fourteen numbers of receipts.
Perused the complaint the documents filed with and on hearing the learned counsel for the Complainant the case was admitted and served Notice on them to appear and to file their version if any with them, And in response the Opposite Parties appeared and filed their version through their Advocate.
The version of the Opposite Parties are all an evasive one to the case of the Complainant claiming therein against the Complainant that since the bills were being issued by the Opposite Parties are all on the actual consumption basis and since she was not paying the same regularly such an accumulated bill has been raised against her and since she is liable to pay the same, the case is not maintainable against them and is liable to be dismissed.
Having gone through the Complaint, the version of the Opposite Parties and on hearing the respective counsels of the parties the following issues have been framed to adjudicate the case.
Whether the Opposite Parties have committed unfair trade practice and caused deficiencies in rendering service to the Complainant ?
Whether the Complainant is entitled for any relief ?
Having gone through the materials available before the Forum and examining the same very minutely with regard to Issue No.1(one), it is found that it is an admitted fact that the Complainant is a consumer of the Opposite Party and also it reveals from the record that she has been paying the dues on her regularly but it is found that in the month of March-2008 an amount of Rs.360/-(Rupees three hundred sixty)only was issued with her as billing amount and an amount of Rs.5,740/-(Rupees five thousand seven hundred forty)only has been levied on her to which she has paid which is quite evident from the receipt issued to her by the Opposite Parties but again it is found that in the month of July-2008 another bill has been issued on actual billing basis again an amount of Rs.768.16/-(Rupees seven hundred sixty eight and sixteen paise)only has been mentioned as the arrear amount to which also the Complainant has paid again it has been found that another bill amounting to Rs.1,212/-(Rupees one thousand two hundred twelve)only has been issued along with the billing amount of Rs.288/-(Rupees two hundred eighty eight)only and so on it is found in the succeeding billing also which creates a cloud of doubt with the act of the Opposite Parties pertinently in the event of the absence of authenticated documentary evidence to the effect to prove their case against the case of the Complainant. Furthermore it reveals from the materials available in the record that the Complainant was regularly paying the billing amount time to time and so far as the arrear amount being reflected in the bill issued by the Opposite Parties were disputed all as the Complainant as per his version has repeatedly complained before the Opposite Parties to which they have never taken in to their consideration and the simple denial of the Opposite Parties in their version cannot disprove the case of the Complainant more so she has also paid the inflated bill as has been mentioned preceding lines of the paragraphs, so simply denying the averment made by the Complainant that in each succeeding bills some arrear amounts were being levied on her without a final settlement by their end cannot be brushed aside without any cogent reason.
To our further observation it reveals from the record that there has been repeated change in installation of meter along with the old one though as per the Complainant the same was running smoothly and the same has been admitted by the Opposite Parties in their version in Para No. 6(six) as it was a regular course of action which is in our view is not a cogent reason while the old one installed by their end is in orderly form and even if it is installed with a new one there should be some reason behind that and there should not be frequent change of the same as has been alleged by the Complainant in as much as issuing provisional bill at the relevant time does not justify their cause, and such act on the part of the Opposite Parties create a cloud of doubt in the mind of the forum in other wards it strengthen the plea of the Complainant. Further more in the mean time the supply of electricity has been disrupted by the Opposite Parties which was reconnected on the order of the Forum at the instance of the Complainant hence in view of the above facts and circumstances we are of the view that the Opposite Parties are at fault of committing unfair trade practice coupled with deficiencies of rendering service towards the Complainant as such it is answered in affirmative to the case of the Complainant.
Secondly with regard to the Issues No.2(two) that whether the Complainant is entitled to any relief, while scrutinizing the materials available in the record in relation to the Issue No.2(two), it is observed that the Opposite Parties have never given any reply to the Complainant on her objection justifying their claim of the arrear bill and also it has been found that all the time the Complainant has been issued with the bills for use of 3(three) K.W electricity energy and has never defaulted by her any time but all the time she has been issued with additional amount of arrear the reason for the same has never been clarified on her request also on the contrary she has been put to harassment in disconnecting her service line, which has proved the case of the Complainant that she is not liable for any such inflated bill and also entitled for the following relief for which both the Opposite Parties are jointly and severally liable and as such our answer is expressed in favor of the Complainant, hence order follows.
O R D E R
Hence the Opposite Parties are jointly and severally directed not to disturb in the use of electricity energy supplied to the Complainant further, and also directed to calculate the bill of the Complainant from the beginning of her connection provided to her afresh and supply her with a fresh bill in a reasonable manner without any ambiguity within thirty days from the date of receipt of the order and also further directed to pay her Rs.10,000/-(Rupees ten thousand)only to the Complainant as compensation towards her mental and physical harassment within the said stipulated period of thirty days from the receipt of the order in default of which further course of punitive measure would follow as per the provision of the Consumer protection Act 1986.
Accordingly the Order is pronounced in the open Forum to-day i.e. on Dt.23/10/2019, in the result the complaint is allowed against the Opposite Parties and the same is disposed off.
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)
Uploaded by
Sri Dusmanta Padhan
Office Assistant, Bargarh.
