BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, BHIWANI.
Complaint No.: 117 of 2019.
Date of Institution: 15.04.2019.
Date of Decision: 22.10.2019
Ram Narian son of Sh.Rameshwar resident of village Khera Tehsil Siwani District Bhiwani.
….Complainant.
Versus
- S.D.O, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Siwani.
- Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd., Siwani.
...Opposite Parties.
COMPLAINT UNDER SECTIONS 12 AND 13 OF
THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986.
Before: - Hon’ble Mr. Nagender Singh, President.
Hon’ble Mr. Shriram Khundia, Member.
Present: Complainant in person.
Shri B.S.Indora, Advocate for the OPs.
ORDER:-
PER NAGENDER SINGH, PRESIDENT
The case of the complainant, in brief, is that the complainant is having a domestic electricity connection No.KHID-0330-A and is paying the bills regularly. He has received a bill in the second month of 2018, which was duly paid on 05.07.2018. In this bill, the complainant had paid an amount of Rs.70 because an amount of Rs.961/-was outstanding towards the Department. Thereafter, he had received another bill for Rs.544/-, which he had paid on 04.01.2019. After that, the OPs issued another bill, which was not visible, therefore, official of the OPs issued handwritten bill to the tune of Rs.23728/-. The complainant requested the Ops to cancel the said bill as he has not consumed the electricity but to no avail. Hence, it amounts to deficiency & negligence in service on the part of OPs and as such, he has to file the present complaint. The complainant in evidence has tendered Ex.CW1/A and documents Annexure C1 to Annexure C5.
2. On notice, opposite parties appeared and filed their separate replies. Op No.1 in its reply has taken preliminary objections such as cause of action, maintainability, locus stnadi and jurisdiction etc. It has been further submitted that the complainant had visited the OPs for correction of bill. On checking, it was found that rate of units consumed by him was calculated wrongly i.e, Rs.7.15 instead of Rs.4.50 and the bill was corrected and excess amount of Rs.8000/- was deducted. The bill of the complainant was divided for 24 months and after deduction of Rs.8,000/- the Nigam is entitled to recover Rs.24,000/- being due against the complainant, which he is liable to pay. OP No.2 in its reply has submitted that the bill as corrected by the JE and lateron it was signed by the concerned SDO and the allegations leveled by the complainant are baseless. Objections about maintainability, jurisdiction and locus standi etc. have been taken. Both these OPs have controverted the other contentions and prayed for dismissal of the complaint. In evidence, the Ops have tendered affidavits Ex.RW1/A, Ex.RW2/A.
3. We have heard ld. counsel for both the parties at length and have gone through the case file carefully.
4.
Perusal of the case file reveals that in Annexure C5 (Bill dated 09.07.2019) total amount of Rs.24741.45 has been shown whereas the arrears were Rs.23728/- in the bill dated 05.09.2019 after deducting an amount of Rs.7973/-. In fact, an amount of Rs.29784/- have been charged by the department as arrears from the complainant and an amount Rs.556/- has been charged as ED charges and Rs.2057/- as FSA as shown in document JN-D. In this way, total amount comes to Rs.31701/- and Rs.7973/- have been deducted, therefore, the department had to charged Rs.23728/-. In the written statement the Opposite parties have mentioned that they have bifurcated the bill of the complainant for 24 bills, but as per the affidavit Ex.RW1/A the bill of the complainant was bifurcated for 50 months which clearly shows the contradictory stands of the opposite parties. As per affidavit Ex.RW1/A, the department had calculated the rates of the units wrongly i.e. Rs.7.15/- instead of Rs.4.50/-. In document JND, the consumed units have been shown as 1619 in the bill for the month of 1/2015 and in the bill for the month of 3/2019 the units have been shown as 7444 and the department has sent the bill for 5561 consumed units. As per section 56(2) of Electricity Act, no sum shall be recoverable after the period of two years from the date when such sum became first due unless such sum has been shown continuously as recoverable as arrears of charges for electricity supplied, but in the present case the opposite parties have failed to comply with the said provisions. Moreover, there is nothing on the file to show that the meter of the complainant was faulty and the complainant has been defaulter rather the complainant had been making the payments of the bills regularly and the meter status has been shown as OK. It is worthwhile to mention here that in the year 2014-2015 the cost of per unit was Rs.2.70/- for a limited slab. But it appears that they have wrongly calculated the rates of the units and even this fact has been admitted by the department in the written statement. Moreover, if the reading was not recorded in time then the same is fault of the department. The complainant has been able to prove that the opposite parties are deficient in providing service.
5. In view of the above discussion, we allow the present complaint as the bills dated 09.7.2019 and 05.09.2019 have been wrongly and illegally issued by the department to the complainant. Accordingly, we hereby direct the opposite parties to withdraw Rs.23728/- from the account of the complainant and not to recover the same from the complainant. Since, the complainant has been able to prove deficiency in service on the part of opposite parties, therefore, opposite parties are directed to pay Rs.5,000/- as compensation in lump sum on account of harassment, mental agony and cost of litigation to be adjusted in the future bills of the complainant. Compliance of this order be made within a period of 30 days. Copy of the order be sent to the parties concerned, free of costs, as per rules. File after due compliance be consigned to record room.
Announced in open Forum.
Dated: - 22.10.2019
(Shriniwas Khundia) (Nagender Singh)
Member President,
District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forum, Bhiwani.
