Punjab

Ludhiana

CC/19/298

Rohit Sabharwal - Complainant(s)

Versus

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited - Opp.Party(s)

sukhjinder Kaur Adv.

28 Apr 2022

ORDER

 

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, LUDHIANA.

                                                Complaint No:298 dated 19.06.2019           

                                              Date of decision: 28.04.2022

Sh.Rohit Sabharwal s/o Vijay Kumar Sabharwal, Kundan Bhawan, 126, Model Gram, Ludhiana (Punjab).                                                                                                                                                                  ..…Complainant

 

1.The CMD, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Bharat Sanchar Bhavan, Corporate Office Harish Chandra Mathur Lane, Janpath, New Delhi.

2.The CGM, BSNL Punjab Telecom Circle, Plot No.2, Sector 34-A, Chandigarh.

3.The General Manager Telecom, BSNL, Punjab Telecom Circle, Ludhiana.

                                                                                      …..Opposite parties

 

       Complaint under section 12 & 14 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986.

QUORUM:

SH. K.K. KAREER, PRESIDENT

SH. JASWINDER SINGH, MEMBER

 

COUNSEL FOR THE PARTIES:

For complainant            :         None for the complainant

For OPs                         :         Sh.Rajeev Abhi, Advocate

 

ORDER

PER K.K. KAREER, PRESIDENT

1.                Shorn of unnecessary details, the case of the complainant is that the complainant is bonafide consumer of OPs for the last 10 years and is using the mobile sim No.94175-70000. The complainant had a balance of more than Rs.12,400/- in his mobile account. However, from last more than 20 days, the complainant has been facing the poor mobile services from the OPs. There is a major issue of poor mobile signal/network but the OPs have least bothered to resolve the issue. At the residence of the complainant situated at Baba Ram Singh Avenue, Backside Sacha Sauda Market, Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana, there is acute problem of mobile signal/network and whenever anybody calls the complainant, the call do not get through and the operator responds that the number is not reachable. In this regard, the complainant lodged a complaint with the OPs but they responded saying that due to non-payment of rent to the owner of the building where the mobile tower of his area has been installed, the owner has switched off the power of the mobile tower. The mobile tower has been fixed in a private building situated at village Threeke. This amounts to deficiency of service on the part of the OPs. Even a legal notice dated 06.06.2019 served upon the OPs failed to evoke a positive response from them. Hence the complaint whereby it has been requested that the OPs be directed to refund the amount of Rs.12,400/- to the complainant enabling him to switch his number into any other better telecom operator and further OPs be made to pay compensation of Rs.2 lacs and litigation expenses of Rs.2000/-.

2.                The complaint has been resisted by the OPs. In the joint written statement filed on behalf of the OPs, it has been, interalia, pleaded that the complaint is not maintainable and the averments made in the complaint are false and frivolous. According to the OPs, on 12.06.2019 due to bad weather, there has been power breakdown in the area which was restored by PSPCL. On account of bad weather, there were some signal errors in many areas of Ludhiana. These faults were duly attended to by CMTS RF Section of the OPs. On receipt of the complaint from the complainant, RFT of BSNL was specially deputed to check and optimize the signal at the address given in the complaint. On checking, it was found that there has been a technical reason for low signal at the residence of the complainant. There is a multi-storied building right in between the BTS tower and the residence of the complainant. The said building was hindering the signal from penetrating right up to ground level at the residence of the complainant. In the past, CMTS RF team had undertaken optimization exercise in the area on the complaint of the complainant. However, for sometimes in the past, the alleged poor signal was being received by the complainant. During testing, it was noticed that there has been loss of signal from the BTS tower near the residence due to the reasons that the owner of the site might have shut down the power for pending rent. However, the CMTS team again visited the said address and tried to make good signal available by exercising the optimization of nearby BTS tower. The CMT section of OPs had already brought the matter to the notice of the higher authorities to get the issues resolved. As per instructions of DG CM, Ludhiana, letter was sent to DGM Finance, Ludhiana to get early release of rent. All efforts have been made by CMTS Section of BSNL to resolve the signal problem within the available resources and further by brining the matter to the notice of the concerned higher authorities for final resolution. There has been no deficiency of service on the part of the OPs. The rest of the averments made in the complaint have been denied as wrong and a prayer for dismissal of the complaint has also been made.

3.                In evidence, complainant submitted his affidavit Ex.PCA along with documents Annexure-P1 to Annexure P9 and closed the evidence.

4.                 On the other hand, OPs submitted affidavit Ex.RA of Sh.Wali Mohammad, AGM (Legal) of OPs along with documents Ex.R1 and Ex.R2 and closed the evidence.

5.                None has been appearing on behalf of complainant since 25.10.2021. We have, however, heard the counsel for the OPs and gone through the record. We proceed to decide the complaint on merits.

6.                The grievance of the complainant in this case is that from the last more than 20 days prior to the filing of the complaint, the complainant has been facing the poor signal/network. This has been candidly admitted by the OPs in the written statement. Firstly, the OPs have claimed that on 12.06.2019, due to bad weather, there was power breakdown in the area and on account of bad weather some signal errors were also faced.  The OPs have further admitted that on checking the premises, it was found that there has been a technical reason for low signal at the residence of the complainant and there is a multistoried building right in between the BTS Tower and the residence of the complainant. Secondly, the owner of the building where BTS Tower was installed, near the house of the complainant, shut down the power due to non-payment of the rent by the OPs. It has further been stated in the written statement that the matter was brought to the notice of the higher authorities and as per the instructions of DG CM, Ludhiana, early release of rent to the owner has been sought. Thus, it is an admitted case of the OPs that the complainant has been experiencing poor signal in and around his residence while using the mobile sim issued by the OPs. This clearly amounts to deficiency of service on the part of the OPs and therefore, in our considered view, it would be just and proper, if the OPs are held liable to pay a sum of Rs.5000/- as compensation to the complainant for rendering deficient services.

7.                The complainant has also claimed the refund of balance amount of Rs.12,400/-. In this regard, it would be just and appropriate if the OPs are directed to refund the balance outstanding amount, if any in the account of the complainant as on date to enable him to get his mobile sim ported out to some other mobile service provider.

8.                As a result of above discussion, the complaint is allowed with an order that OPs shall pay a sum of Rs.5000/- as compensation to the complainant and shall also refund the balance outstanding amount in the account of the complainant as on the date along with Rs.2000/- as litigation expenses. Compliance of the order be made within 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order. Copies of order be supplied to parties free of costs as per rules. File be indexed and consigned to record room.         

9.                Due to rush of work and spread of COVID-19, the case could not be decided within statutory period.

 

                             (Jaswinder Singh)                            (K.K. Kareer)

                    Member                                           President

 

Announced in Open Commission.

Dated:28.04.2022.

Gurpreet Sharma