Haryana

Sonipat

306/2014

SURESH RANA S/O RAJ KUMAR - Complainant(s)

Versus

1. ARVIND GAS SERVICE,2. THE CHAIRMAN INDIAN OIL CORPORATION LTD. - Opp.Party(s)

SACHIN TYAGI

14 Jul 2015

ORDER

BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, SONEPAT.

                                                      

                                    Complaint No.306 of 2014

                                    Instituted on:14.11.2014

                                    Date of order:29.07.2015

 

Suresh Rana son of Shri Raj Kumar Rana, resident of village Fazilpur, Sonepat, distt. Sonepat.

      …….Complainant

 

                        VERSUS

 

1.M/s Arvind Gas Service, 5, Kabirpur road, village Kabirpur road, village Kabirpur, distt. Sonepat through its Manager.

2.The Chairman/Managing Director, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd., Indian Oil Bhawan, PLHO, 8^th Floor, Udhyog Marg, Sector 1, Noida-201301(UP).

 

     ……..Respondents.

 

COMPLAINT UNDER SECTION 12 OF

THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT,1986

 

Argued by: Sh. Sachin Tyagi, Adv. for complainant.

           Sh. RS Bhatti, Adv. for respondent no.1.

            Respondent no.2 ex-parte.

 

BEFORE-     Nagender Singh, President.

            Smt. Prabha Wati, Member.

            D.V. Rathi, Member.

 

O R D E R

 

          Complainant has filed the present complaint against the respondents alleging therein that he has applied vide application dated 21.9.2014 with respondent no.2 for the release of one Indane Gas Connection for his domestic use which has been registered vide reference no.N-140921100727251. After receipt of some information from respondent no.2, he contacted the respondent no.1 and requested him to release the gas connection, but the respondent no.1 avoided the same.  The complainant made a complaint to respondent no.2 and in response to that, he received e-mail from respondent no.2 on 5.10.2014 vide which the respondent no.1 was directed to resolve the issue. The complainant again requested the respondent no.1 for the release of connection, but of no use. On 10.10.2014, the complainant received e-mail from the respondent no.2 to the effect that since the village of the complainant is outside municipal limits, the connection cannot be released by the respondent no.1.  Thereafter the complainant obtained the site plan of the distribution area of the respondent no.1 in which it is clearly shown that the area of village Fazilpur come within the operation distribution area of the respondent no.1 and as many as 50 gas connections have already been enjoying the services of the respondent no.1 and in this way, the respondent no.1 by not providing the gas connection to the complainant, has rendered deficient services and caused unnecessary mental agony and harassment. So, he has come to this Forum and has filed the present complaint.

2.        The respondent no.1 has appeared and filed his reply, whereas respondent no.2 was proceeded against ex-parte.

          In reply, the respondent no.1 has submitted that the complainant never made any release for the release of gas connection in his name.  The respondent no.1 also never avoided to issue the gas connection.   The respondent no.1 is bound by the direction of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. The respondent no.1 is helpless in releasing connection beyond his limit/area as per directions of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd.   The area situated in village Fazilpur is rural area and beyond the distributorship of the respondent no.1 and without permission of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. no connection can be released.  The complainant has not suffered any mental agony or harassment at the hands of the respondent no.1 and he is not entitled for any relief as he is not the consumer of the respondent no.1 and thus, prayed for the dismissal of the present complaint.

3.        We have heard both the learned counsel for the parties at length and have also gone through the entire case file very carefully.

4.        Ld. Counsel for the respondent no.1 has submitted that the complainant never made any release for the release of gas connection in his name.  The respondent no.1 also never avoided to issue the gas connection.   The respondent no.1 is bound by the direction of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. The respondent no.1 is helpless in releasing connection beyond his limit/area as per directions of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd.   The area situated in village Fazilpur is rural area and beyond the distributorship of the respondent no.1 and without permission of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. no connection can be released.  The complainant has not suffered any mental agony or harassment at the hands of the respondent no.1 and he is not entitled for any relief as he is not the consumer of the respondent no.1.

          Ld. Counsel for the complainant has argued his case by alleging deficiency in service on the part of the respondents and has prayed that the complainant be compensated suitably and respondent no.1 be directed to release the gas connection to the complainant.  He further submitted that the complainant is the consumer of the respondents and in support of his contention, he has relied upon the case law titled as Bharat Gas Agency Vs. Sanjiv Kumar, First Appeal no.870 of 2013 decided on 15.1.2014 and Anand Gas Service Vs. Arun Kumar Mukherjee, date of decision 30.10.2009.

          We have gone through the above cited law and in the above cited law, the point whether the complainant who applied for the release of gas connection, is a consumer or not, has been decided that the person who has merely applied for the release of gas connection, is also a consumer. So, keeping in view the above said law, the complainant is also the consumer of the respondents and has a right to file the present complaint.

          Now the main question arises for consideration before this Forum is whether the complainant is entitled for any relief or not?

          Shri Pardeeep Kumar Manager (LPG Sales) Faridabad has informed to respondent no.1 that :-

          “This is to inform you that your distributorship is Urban Market Distributorship and the trading area of Urban Markets are as under: For Urban Markets, the trading area is normally falling within the limits of town as notified by the Municipal Corporation/Committee/Notified councils.”.

          In para no.6 of the complaint, the complainant has admitted that “On 10.10.2014, the complainant received e-mail from the respondent no.2 to the effect that since the village of the complainant is outside municipal limits, the connection cannot be released by the respondent no.1.”

          From the above admission of the complainant, it is clearly proved that the complainant belongs to village Fazilpur which is outside the municipal limits.  So, in our view, the respondent no.1 was right on his part and it cannot be said that there was any deficiency in service on his part while not releasing the gas connection to the complainant.

          However, in the interest of justice, we hereby direct the respondent no.2 to release the gas connection to the complainant as per terms and conditions of the booking in the near about distributor within 60 days from the date of passing of this order.

          With these observations, findings and directions, the present complaint stands disposed off.

         Certified copies of order be provided to the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the record-room.

 

 

 

(Prabha Devi-Member)    (D.V.Rathi)         (Nagender Singh-President)

DCDRF, Sonepat.      DCDRF, Sonepat.      DCDRF Sonepat.

 

Announced 29.07.2015