Date of filing:-16/12/2017.

Date of Order:-13/09/2019.

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM(COURT)

 B A R G A R H.

Consumer Complaint No.35 of 2018.

            Alakashree Dash, W/o-Sudipta Kumar Dash, R/O- Shanti Nagar College Road, Padampur, Po.-Rajborasambar, Ps-padampur ,Dist-Bargarh…           .....       .....   Complainant.

 -:         V e r s u s       :-.

1 .        Sub-divisional Officer ,Electrical Sub-Dvn Wesco ,At-Padampur .Po-Rajborasambar           Ps-Padampur Dist-Bargarh.

2 .        Executive Engineer Wesco ,Bargarh ,Po/Ps/Dist-Bargarh…..Opposite Parties.

                                                                        .....       .....       .....       ..... Opposite Parties

Counsel for the Parties:-

For the Complainant :-            Sri R.N.Dash, 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.13/09/2019                                     -: J   U  D   G  E  M  E  N  T:-

Presented by Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra, President:-

            Brief Facts of the Case;-

            The case being filed by the Complainant U/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 with an allegation of illegal action of the Opposite Parties under the following grounds:- .

            The case of the Complainant being a bonafide consumer of the Opposite Parties having been provided with the power supply vide his Consumer No-5152-0117-0377 for his domestic use, and was in use of the same and was paying the regular bill issued by the Opposite Parties time to time but all of a sudden on Dt. 22.12.2017 at about 1 p.m some un-known person claiming to be the personnel of the Opposite Parties forcibly entered in to the boundary of his house and forcibly took his signature on a paper and threatened him of using unauthorized electricity and would be disconnected with power supply if he would not pay the provisional bill amounting to Rs.80,840/-(Rupees eighty thousand eight hundred forty)only supplied with him charging him of committing offences U/s 126 of Electricity Act. In furtherance’s to his case the Complainant being aggrieved with such action of the staffs of the Opposite Parties met the Opposite Party No.2(two) on Dt.28.01.2018 and his put his grievance before him consequent upon which he made a note on the verification report itself directing the concerned officer of his department to calculate the penalty bill for six month instead of the calculation made for twelve months in the provisional verification report and assured him for appropriate order in due course of time in their final assessment order but to no action till the filing of the case thus the cause of action arose.

            Further case is that even after the said assurance of the Opposite Party No.2(two) the Complainant was not provided with the final assessment order but to his surprise some staffs of the Opposite Parties came to him suddenly and threatened him to disconnect the power supply if he would not pay the provisional assessment penalty amount, which in his view is an illegal one hence has preferred to approach the Forum to redress his dispute with the Opposite Parties and to substantiate his case has relied on the documents as follows,

1. Physical verification report bearing No-0091267 Dt.22.12.2017 prepared by one P.Patel representative of WESCO.
2. Provisional Assessment Order Dt. 13.12.2017 issued by the SDO, WESCO, Padampur.
3. Electricity Bill payment receipts bearing No. B1 8268108, Dt.22.03.2018, IM 468961500178, Dt.26.02.2018, IM 43D451500030 Dt.30.12.2017, BI 8218082, Dt.30.09.17, BI 8159181 Dt.24.08.17 B1 8066044 Dt.05.07.2017 B1 8038030 Dt.25.06.2017, B1 8016132 Dt.31.05.2017, B1 4398157 Dt.30.04.2017.
4.  Electricity Bill Dt.20.03.18, Dt.24.02.18 Dt.27.12.18 issued by WESCO.

            Having gone through the complaint and hearing the counsel of the Complainant the case was admitted to be a genuine one and notice was served upon the Opposite Parties and on being noticed they appeared before the Forum and filed their version through their Advocate which are all evasive one and besides that has also made averment challenging the case to be not maintainable before the Forum in view of the relevant provision of the Electricity Act U/s 126 and 135 to 140 coupled with the direction of the Supreme Court and also further made averments that the Complainant was not paying the regular bill dues on him and consequent upon which the authorized personnel of the Opposite Parties conducted raid on the house of the Complainant and issued him with a provisional assessment bill to the tune of Rs.80,843 /-(Rupees eight thousand eight hundred forty three)only but the Complainant neither preferred to pay the same nor filed any objection to the same hence has prayed before the Forum to dismiss the case as non maintainable.

            On perusal of the materials available in the record we feel it to examine the case under the following issues to adjudicate the case.

1. Whether the case is maintainable in the present form in the Forum ?
2. Whether the Complainant is entitled to any relief ?

            While examining the Issue No.1(one), we feel it to be proper to consider both the issues jointly, so having gone through the Complainant and the documents filed by him and the version of the Opposite Parties vividly and hearing the respective counsels of the Parties it came to our notice that prior to the alleged raid on the house of the Complainant by the authorized persons of the Opposite Parties, the Complainant was being issued with regular bill and was also being paid the same to the Opposite Parties till the Dt.30.12.2017 and against which money receipt was also issued in his favor by the Opposite Parties and also many such bills are paid by the Complainant which clearly speaks the transparency of the Complainant and more so on being issued by the provisional bill by the authorized personnel of the Opposite Parties the Complainant has put his grievance before the higher authority of the Opposite Parties i.e. the Opposite Party No.2(two) and has shown the same before him to which the Executive Engineer has considered the case of the Complainant and has put a remark on the provisional assessment order itself directing his officials to receive the said penalty for six months instead of the calculation of the penalty for twelve months in the said verification report and also has assured the Complainant to supply him with the Final Assessment but later on it was not supplied with him which is clearly evident from the documents filed before us from which it can be safely inferred that there is deficiencies of rendering service on the part of the Opposite Parties as such it can be safely deduced that it is a fit case of consumer dispute and is maintainable before the Forum in view of the provision U/s 3 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 which clearly envisages therein that it is an addition to any other Law for the time being in force but not in derogation to the same which also corresponds to the provision of the Electricity Act U/s 175, but in view of the guide lines given by the Apex Court(Supreme Court) in a case of U.P Power Corporation Ltd. and others Vrs Anis Ahamad case reported in 2013, CLR 365 placed before us by the learned counsel for the Opposite Parties and in view of the prevalent provision the Electricity Law there is ample scope for the consumer to knock the door of the higher Appellate Forum for the same to agitate the dispute therein.

            But since the Complainant has approached before the Forum hence in view of the point of natural justice, good conscience and equity we are of the view to direct the complaint to file his objection before the proper forum afresh as per the provision of the Electricity Act and so expressed our view as follows.

            In view of such facts and circumstances of the case in hand the Complainant is directed to approach the proper Forum as per the Electricity Act afresh with his grievance and in that case the Opposite Parties are directed to take up the case of the Complainant afresh for consideration in view of our aforesaid finding and are directed to consider the same in a lenient way in the interest of justice.

            Accordingly the case is disposed off being pronounced in the open Forum to-day i.e  on Dt.13.09.2019.

                                                                                                Typed to my dictation

                                                                                                 and corrected by me.             

                                    I agree,                                            ( Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra)

                                                                                                      P r e s i d e n t.                                                         

                   ( Ajanta Subhadarsinee)

                          M e m b e r (W)

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