Orissa

Cuttak

CC/57/2017

Mamata Kumari Mohapatra - Complainant(s)

Versus

Chief General Manager,Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd - Opp.Party(s)

H Tripathy

27 Jul 2018

ORDER

IN THE COURT OF THE DIST. CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM,CUTTACK.

C.C No.57/2017

Mamata Kumari Mohapatra,

W/o: Debabrata Panda,

At/PO:Tarot Sasan,Via:Asureswar,

Dist:Cuttack-754209.                                                                                   … Complainant.

 

Vrs.

1.         Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.(A Govt. of India Enterprise)

Represented through its

Chief General Manager, (CGM),BSNL,Odisha Circle,

BSNL Bhawan,Ashok Nagar,Bhubaneswar,Odisha.

 

2.         General Manager(G.M),BSNL,Cuttack,

Telecom District,BSNL Bhawan,Madhupatna,Cuttack,Odisha.

 

3.        Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO)l

BSNL,Cuttack Telecom District,

Salipur Circle,BSNL Bhawan,Salipur,Cuttack,Odisha.… Opp. Parties.

 

Present:               Sri Dhruba Charan Barik,President.

Smt. Sarmistha Nath, Member(W).

 

Date of filing:     02.04.2017

Date of Order:  27.07.2018

 

For the complainant :    Sri H.K.Tripathy,Adv. & Associates.

For the O.Ps.                 :   Mr. D.Ray,Adv. & Associates.

 

Smt. Sarmistha Nath,Member(W).

 

                The complainant has filed this case against the O.Ps for Redressal of his grievances under the Consumer Protection Act,1986(Act in short) in terms of her prayer made in the complaint petition.  The allegation made in the complaint is with regard deficiency in service provided and unfair trade practice adopted by the O.Ps.

1. The case of the complainant in brief is that the complainant applied to the O.Ps for a land line telephone connection to her premises.  She also deposited the prescribed security and other deposits with the O.Ps as required.

After completion of necessary formalities, the O.Ps provided a land line telephone bearing No.06712357920 connection to her premises.The complainant continued to avail the said facility on payment of the bills.

In the month of January,2015 the telephone connection was disconnected and the telephone became dead.The complainant lodged a complaint before the local telephone exchange of the O.Ps intimation to the concerned line man who repairs the defects in the telephone connection.The officer of the telephone exchange did not take any step to restore the telephone connection.The complainant on 26.3.15 made a representation to the O.P No.1 for Redressal of her grievance who forwarded the same to O.P.2 for necessary action.Copy attached as Annexure-1.The O.Ps issued a payment advice refunding Rs.934/- only to the complainant through a cheque bearing“No.025873” dt.01.11.2016 payable at ICICI Bank Ltd. for the said amount which is filed herewith and marked as Annexurfe-23 series.

The complainant was in need of telephone connection instead of depositing the cheque under Annexure-2 for encashment, she approached the officer’s of the local telephone exchanges for restoration of her land line connection but the O.Ps remained silent and on enquiry she was told that the land line connection cannot be restored for which deposit made by her has been refunded.Due to the aforesaid action of the O.Ps she suffered from mental agony and is facing a lot of inconvenient.So, the complainant prayed that the O.Psmay be directedto restore the land lined telephone connection bearing telephone No.0671-2357920 to the premises of the complainant and pay sum of Rs.20,000/- (twenty thousand) only with future and pendentilite interest of 18% per annum to the complainant.

2. The O.Ps appeared and filed written version denying the allegations of the complainant.  The O.Ps a Corporate Body constituted by Govt. of India dealing with providing telephone land line services to the customers stated in their version that connection bearing No.0671-2357920 was provided to the complainant under Cuttack S.S.A  after initial deposit of Rs.1800/- by complainant and telephone connection was provided on 22.7.2002 to her.  Copy of the application form and copy of bills are enclosed as Annexure-E/1 series.  The telephone disconnected due to non-payment of bills for the month from 1.10.2014 to 31^st January,2015, 1^st February,2015 to 31^st March 2015, 1^st April to 22.4.2015 in total Rs.627.00.  As per guidelines of the Department when a telephone connection lies disconnected for a long period, TGRA finalizes the account adjusting outstanding bills with security deposits, refunds the balance amount to the concerned party in the mode of account payee cheque.  The same procedure has been followed by the O.Ps in the case at hand and balance amount of rs.934.00 by way of the cheque no.025873 dt.01.11.16 payable at ICCICI Bank was refunded to the complainant.

The O.Ps further stated that the O.P No.3 made verification and found that the residence of complainant is about 5.3 Kms from Katikata exchange.The cable from Katikata to Asureswar is manageable.The cable from Asureswar Bazar to Luna River is good.The length of Luna Bridge is about 700 Mtrs.50 pairs of cables laid by BSNL Long ago have been severely damaged and some cables were theft by anti-socials.So, few telephone connections on the other site the river were disrupted.Complainant’s residence is about 1.2 Km distance from Luna river and 600 mtr. cable at the other site of river were damaged which required new laying for which huge amount is required to be invested for a single consumer and return from the projectfar below and BSNL will face heavy loss.When a telephone connection lies disconnected for long time, TRA finalizes the account adjusting the outstanding bill with security deposit and refunds the balance amount.Further O.Ps stated that the complainant has not conveyed the change of her name.

3. We have heard the parties and perused the documents filed by the parties.  Admittedly complainant was given land line connection in the year 2002 and paid the bills but when the telephone service was disrupted she approached the authority for restoration of land line connection.  The O.Ps though have taken the plea of non-payment of bills but the O.Ps being an instrumentalist of the Govt. should have given Opportunity to the complainant to pay the arrear bills, if any before disconnection. Besides that the O.Ps admitted in their written version  that the telephone service to the premises of complainant was disrupted due to severe damage of cable due to stone packing and theft.  The O.P further stated that laying of new cables will require huge amount for single consumer and the return from the consumer will be far below.  The BSNL is a Corporate Body constituted by Govt. of India with a view to providing telephone services to the customers and it is also an essential service in modern days.  The O.Ps provided land line connection to the complainant in the year 2002 but when the telephone service was disrupted the complainant brought the above fact  to the notice of all concerned but the O.Ps did not restore the land line connection on plea of investment of huge amount.  The BSNL is not a commercial organization rather it is service provider which indicates deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of a public undertaking and the O.Ps are jointly and severally liable for deficiency in service.

 

 

ORDER

The case is allowed on contest against the O.Ps.  The O.Ps are directed to pay Rs.20,000/- along with interest @ 8% per annum from the date of filing of the case within 45 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order.

Typed to dictation, corrected and pronounced by the Hon’ble Member in the Open Court on this the 27^th day of July, 2018 under the seal and signature of this Forum.

 

                                     ( Smt. Sarmistha Nath )

                                            Member(W)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

.

                  (Sri D.C.Barik)

                                                                                                                                      President