DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, PALWAL

Consumer Complaint No. 73 of 2014

                                       Date of Institution:      09.06.2014

                                       Date of Decision   :     24.03.2015

Daya Kishan son of Sh. Attar Singh 2.   Kishore son of Sh. Attar Singh, resident of village Allika, Tehsil Palwal, District Palwal.

                                                        .. Complainant

                                        Versus

1.     S.D.O. D.H.B.N. Palwal, District Palwal.

2.     XEN D.H.B.V.N. Palwal, District Palwal.

                                                               ..Respondents.

COMPLAINT UNDER SECTION 12 OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT

 BEFORE:           JAGBIR SINGH:          PRESIDENT

                        KHUSHWINDER KAUR: MEMBER

                        R. S. DHARIWAL:                MEMBER

PRESENT:          Sh.S.K.Tanwar Adv. for complainant.

                        Sh.R.K.Sharma,Adv. for opposite parties.

ORDER:

                        In brief the facts agitated in the complaint are as under:-

                That on 10.4.2014 at about 12:55PM the ripe crops of wheat and sugarcane of complainants was gutted as a result of sparking in overhead electricity wire passing over the fields of the complainant. The overheads electricity wires came into contact with each other which resulted into sparks and sparks fell on the ripe crops lying in the fields  and as a result of sparks felling on the ripe crops it resulted into fire which ultimately gutted the ripe crops of the complainant. As per allegations of the complainants the complainants suffered as a result of fire due to negligence act of opposite parties(Electricity Department) and a loss was caused to the complainants as their ripe crops was destroyed completely.  The total loss which the complainant are alleging

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to have been suffered is to the tune of Rs. 81,600/-. As per complainants if the Fire Brigade would have not reached at the place of accident/occurrence the fire would have caused havoc resulting into more loss of life and property. According to the complainant he has suffered a huge loss as a result of negligence act of the opposite parties due to sparking in the electricity wires which resulted into fire and ultimately which gutted the ripe crops of the complainants.

                As per allegations of the complainants the opposite parties were negligent as the complainants used to complaint to the opposite parties orally regarding the wires in question as and when he/they used to go for depositing the electricity bills in the office of the Electricity Department. As per the allegations of the complainants the opposite parties did not pay any heed to the oral requests made to them regarding the faulty wires as a result of which they have suffered a loss of his ripe crops. The complainant wrote a letter for compensation to the opposite party no.1 which goes unheard.

                When the complaint of the complainants was not heard in any quarter they knocked the door of Consumer Forum and prayed to the Forum for compensation to the tune of Rs.1,00,000/- for mental agony, harassment and financial loss and in addition to it they have prayed for awarding compensation for complete damage of ripe crops to the tune of Rs.81,600/-.

                Upon registration of the complaint notices were issued to the opposite parties.  Opposite parties appeared through their Ld. Counsels and filed their joint reply of the complaint in which in preliminary objections they have raised objections regarding non maintainability, no locus standi, have not approached this Forum with clean hands, no cause of action have accrued to file the present complaint, no jurisdiction to entertain and try the present complaint and further pleaded that present complaint is false, frivolous and vexatious and is

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liable to be dismissed.

                In parawise reply also all the allegations of the complainant are denied in toto and have prayed that complainants  are not entitled for any kind of claims and there is no negligency on the part of opposite parties as the fire did not take place due to negligency of the opposite parties and as such  complaint may be dismissed.

                To substantiate his case the complainants have placed on file 17 documents and they are Ex.P-1 to Ex.P-17. In addition to it the affidavit of complainant no. 1 has been filed in which he has reasserted all the allegations levelled against them in the complaint. Ex.P-1 is the  Naksha/report of fire in village Allika, Tehsil and District Palwal running into 6 pages, Ex.P-2 is the copy of police report bearing DD no. 14 dated 1.5.2014, Ex.P-3 and Ex.P-4 are the photographs of the crops showing the gutted crops, Ex.P-5 fire report nakal, Ex.P-6 is the copy of jamabandi showing the name of the complainants, Ex.P-7 and Ex.P-8 is the copy of complaint to opposite party no. 1, Ex.P-9 copy of map/report of fire in village Allika, Ex.P-10 is the copy of standing crop there. In addition to it there are some other documents like newspaper cutting etc.

                Similarly, to substantiate his case the opposite parties  has placed on record the affidavit of Sanjay Mangla S.D.O. Sub Division in which he has denied all the allegations levelled in the complaint.

                Without going into the merits of the case it is the first and foremost duty which arises for the consideration of this Forum that Whether the complainants is a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act by any stretch of imagination. Certainly the answer to the above mentioned question is ‘NO’.

                Resultantly, this Forum is of the view that complainants are not the ‘CONSUMER’ under the Consumer Protection Act 1986 under Section 2(1)(d) as he is not falling under the purview of “CONSUMER”.

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Hence the complaints of the complainants are dismissed. However, the complainants are at liberty to file any Civil suit in any other competent Civil Court of Law of competent jurisdiction and the time spent by the complainants in pursuing their complaint before the wrong Forum/Court/Platform will not be taken into consideration while calculating the limitation under the Indian Limitation Act. Parties are left to bear their own costs. Copy of this order be given to the parties free of costs and file be consigned to the record room.  This order of the Forum is running into 4 pages and each page of this order has been signed by this Forum.

 Announced on:24.03.2015                  (JAGBIR SINGH)

                                                       President

District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum,        Palwal.

(KHUSHWINDER KAUR)

                                                       Member

District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum,        Palwal.

                                                       (R. S. DHARIWAL)

                                                       Member

District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Palwal.