DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM,

BATHINDA.

EA.No.82 of 26-08-2013

Decided on 26-11-2013

Jatinder Vir Gupta aged about 55 years S/o Raghbar Dayal C/o M/s Gupta Telecom, Gurudwara Chowk, Mansa R/o Mitwa Street, Water Works Road, Ward No.14, Mansa.

…....Complainant/Applicant

Versus

1.Manish Bhatia, Branch Manager/Incharge/Authorized Signatory Aviva Life Insurance Co. Pvt. Ltd., Branch Office: The Mall, Near Axis Bank, Bathinda.

2.Punit Bhatia, Branch Manager/Authorized person of HDFC Bank Ltd. (Erst-while Centurion Bank of Punjab), Branch: Guru Kashi Marg, Bathinda.

…....Opposite parties/Respondents

Application under Section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

QUORUM

Smt. Vikramjit Kaur Soni, President.

Sh.Amarjeet Paul, Member.

Smt.Sukhwinder Kaur, Member.

Present:-

For the Complainant/applicant: Sh.Ish Kumar, counsel for

complainant/applicant.

For Opposite parties/respondents: Sh.Sanjay Goyal, counsel for opposite parties/respondents.

ORDER

VIKRAMJIT KAUR SONI, PRESIDENT:-

1. The applicant has filed an application under Section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, as amended upto date (here-in-after referred to as 'Act') seeking an order of punishment on the ground that the opposite parties have not complied with the order passed in C.C No.390 of 14.08.2012, decided on 17.12.2012 by this Forum. The relevant portion of the abovesaid order as per the application of the applicant is reproduced:-

“i) Therefore in view of what has been discussed above, this complaint is accepted against the opposite parties with Rs.5000/- as cost and compensation and the opposite parties are directed to pay the amount of Rs.50,213/-. The compliance of this order be done within 45 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order. In case of non-compliance, the interest @ 9% per annum will yield on the amount of Rs.50,213/-.”

The copy of the abovesaid order was issued to the opposite parties on 31.1.2013 and accordingly, the opposite parties were supposed to comply with the order of this Forum on or before 17.3.2013, but they with malafide intention and to harass the complainant, have paid the amount of Rs.50,213/- and Rs.5000/- as cost and compensation on 7.6.2013 without making the payment of interest as ordered by this Forum. The applicant has received the amount under protest. The complainant repeatedly requested the opposite parties to comply with the order and to make the payment of interest, but to no effect. Hence the present application filed by the applicant.

2. Notice of the application has been sent to the respondents/opposite parties and the respondent No.1 after appearing before this forum has filed its written statement and pleaded that the present complaint is not maintainable and has became infructuous as the abovesaid order has already been complied with an award amount and upto date interest amount has already been paid to the applicant. The opposite parties/respondents were directed to pay Rs.50,213/- and Rs.5000/- as cost that was duly paid to the complainant/applicant through their counsel vide cheque No.043144 dated 21.5.2013 amounting to Rs.50,213/- and vide cheque No.043145 dated 21.5.2013 amounting to Rs.5000/- and as the opposite party No.1 is a Customer Centric Company, it has also paid the interest cheque amounting to Rs.3640/- vide cheque No.371619 dated 1.10.2013. The interest amount cheque has already been paid to the complainant even that was not payable as the opposite party No.1 has not received any order copy directly from this Forum. As such the present application/ complaint is liable to dismissed being fully satisfied. The applicant in his application alleged that this Hon'ble Forum has directed the opposite parties to make the payment within 45 days from the date of receipt of the copy of this order and counsel of the opposite parties received the order copy which was supplied by him to them but it was the Hon'ble Forum which has to directly supply the order copy to the opposite parties as per the instruction of Hon'ble Punjab State Commission, Chandigarh, although the interest was not payable even then the opposite party No.1, being the customer centric company, has paid the interest.

3. Notice of the application has been sent to the respondent No.2, its counsel after appearing before this forum on 22.11.2013 has suffered the statement to the effect that the reply filed by the respondent/opposite party No.1 may also be read reply of the respondent/opposite party No.2.

4. The arguments advanced by the learned counsel of the parties heard at length on the application under section 27 filed by the complainant. The operating portion of the order passed by this Forum on dated 17.12.2012 is:-

“13) Therefore in view of what has been discussed above, this complaint is accepted against the opposite parties with Rs.5000/- as cost and compensation and the opposite parties are directed to pay the amount of Rs.51,500/- after deducting 2.5%=Rs.50,213/-(Rs.51,500-Rs.1287/-). The compliance of this order be done within 45 days from the date of receipt of the copy of this order.

In case of non-compliance the interest @ 9% per annum will yield on the amount of Rs.50,213/-.”

The counsel of the opposite parties has received the copy of the abovesaid order on 31.1.2013 and the date of compliance for the opposite parties was 17.3.2013 but they have paid the amount of Rs.50,213/- and Rs.5000/- as cost and compensation on 7.6.2013 without making the payment of interest as ordered by this Forum. The applicant has received the amount under protest.

As per the reply of the respondents, the compliance was made on 21.5.2013 as they were given the cheque No.043144 dated 21.5.2013 for the amount of Rs.50,213/- and the cheque No.043145 dated 21.5.2013 for the amount of Rs.5000/- to the complainant and the interest amount of Rs.3640/- is paid to him vide cheque No.371619 dated 1.10.2013. Afterwards the delay, if any, on the part of the opposite parties/respondents was due to the reason that they have not received the order copy directly from this Forum.

5. As per the record the counsel of the opposite parties has received the copy on behalf of the respondents/opposite party Nos.1 to 4 on dated 4.2.2013. The plea of the respondents/opposite parties that the order copy has not been sent to them directly is not tenable as before the dispatch of the copy of the abovesaid order to the respondent/opposite party Nos.1 to 4, the learned counsel of the opposite parties/respondents has already received the order copy on 4.2.2013, hence their compliance start from 4.2.2013 and the period of 45 days was upto 20.3.2013, whereas the payment regarding the amount of Rs.50,213/- + Rs.5000/- has been made through cheque No.043144 dated 21.5.2013 and the cheque No.043145 dated 21.5.2013 and the same has been received on 7.6.2013 by the complainant and the interest amount of Rs.3640/- vide cheque No.371618 dated 1.10.2013 has been paid to him i.e. during the pendency of this complaint, thus this shows that the opposite parties have not complied with the order within the period of 45 days.

6. Thus in view of what has been discussed above there is non-compliance on the part of the opposite parties, due to this non-compliance, the applicant/complainant has to approach this Forum again for the redressal of his grievances for seeking the payment which has already been awarded to him in C.C No.390 of 14.8.2012, decided on 17.12.2012. The support can be sought by the precedent laid down by the Hon'ble National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi in case titled A.K Gupta Vs. Ummed Mal Jain, 2008(2) CLT 361, wherein it has been held:-

“Consumer Protection Act, 1986, Sections 25 and 27-Execution proceedings-Penalty-Action initiated either under Section 27 or 25 of the Act is in the nature of execution proceedings-Since the awarded amount had been tendered during the pendency of execution proceedings itself, the Fora below could have imposed only the cost of execution proceedings and not the penalty of Rs.2000/- under Section 27.”

7. As discussed above the entire payment as per the abovesaid order has been received by the complainant/applicant, the amount of interest as awarded by this Forum has been paid by the opposite parties/respondents during the pendency of the application under section 27 of the 'Act, hence he is only entitled to get the litigation expenses that has been spent on filing of the application under section 27 of the 'Act'. Hence the application of the complainant is accepted with Rs.1500/- as litigation expenses which are to be paid to the applicant, within the period of 15 days from the date of receipt of the copy of this order.

8. A copy of this order be sent to the parties concerned free of cost and file be consigned to the record room.

Pronounced in open Forum

26-11-2013

(Vikramjit Kaur Soni)

President

(Amarjeet Paul)

Member

(Sukhwinder Kaur)

Member