BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 70 of 2017
Date of Institution : 24.03.2017
Date of Decision : 30.11.2017
Shanti Devi wife of Tirlok @ Nandan Singh resident of H.N. 308, Main Road, Prem Nagar Sirsa, Tehsil and District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
- S.D.O(OP) DHBVN Sirsa.
- XEN Operation Sub Urban Division, DHBVN Sirsa.
- S.E. Op. Circle DHBVN Sirsa.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986.
Before: SHRI R.L. AHUJA…… PRESIDENT
SHRI MOHINDER PAUL RATHEE……MEMBER.
Present: Sh. Mukesh Arya, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. H.S. Raghav proxy counsel for Sh. Vijay Sharma, Advocate for opposite parties.
ORDER
In brief facts of the case of complainant are that complainant is law abiding citizen of India and there is an electric connection bearing no.T12ST083820 bearing account no.0111280000 installed in the house of complainant at Prem Nagar Sirsa Tehsil and District Sirsa. The complainant has never been defaulter of the ops. The complainant received a electricity bill for the period of 01.10.2016 to 01.11.2016 issued on 17.11.2016 for the amount of Rs.45511/-, which was wrongly and illegally issued by the ops as the complainant never consumed this heavy units. The complainant immediately visited to the office of op no.1 and lodged a formal complaint with the op bearing no. 3119 and 4019. On this the op assured the complainant to correct the bill and issue afresh bill but the op did not correct the bill. Thereafter, a few days later, when the complainant and his family members were out of station, in the absence of the complainant, the officials of the ops disconnected the electricity connection without any prior notice to the complainant and removed the meter of the house of the complainant and when the complainant came back, she came to know regarding the disconnection of the electric connection of the house. The complainant immediately approached the op no.1 and requested to correct the bill and get the amount deposited by the complainant and install the said electricity connection of the house of complainant, on which the ops issued a new corrected bill the amount of which was duly deposited by the complainant. Ops till the date have not installed any connection in the house of the complainant and they are putting the matter off on one pretext or the other because of which the complainant is suffering from harassment and humiliated. The disconnection of electricity meter of the complainant was illegal, without any fault of the complainant. the complainant is also feeling insult at the time of arrival of his relatives and friends in his house. In this way the ops are committing negligency in their duty and causing a great loss to the complainant, hence the complainant is also entitled for the compensation of Rs.50,000/- due to act and conduct of the op and causing a great loss, mental pain, loss, agony, harassment etc. Hence this complaint.
2. The OP No. 1 to 3 appeared and filed its written statement in which they have taken preliminary objections as no cause of action, maintainability, not come with clean hands, estoppel. Further submitted that the complainant has filed a false, frivolous and vexatious complaint just to harass and humiliate the answering ops and the complainant being dishonest in the litigation is not entitled to get any relief, hence the same is liable to be dismissed with costs. On merit, it is submitted that the complaint regarding installation of the electric connection at the house of the complainant are matter of record. The complainant has not deposited the consumption charges to the ops-Nigam against the bills issued to the complainant for August, September and October, 2016. It is submitted that for the month of October, 2016, the reading of the meter of the complainant was noted down by the meter reader as 4183 units and as per the said reading, the bill was issued to the complainant for an amount of Rs.36,176/-. On receiving the said bill, the complainant moved an application to the ops-Nigam to correct the above said bill amount and the enquiry was duly conducted by the ops-Nigam in the matter and during this period, the bill for the month of November, 2016 was issued to the complainant on average basis. After enquiry, it was found that the reading for the month of October, 2016 was inadvertently noted down by the meter reader and the same was corrected by the ops-Nigam and as per the correct meter reading, a new fresh bill for Rs.3249/- was issued on 10.12.2016 upto November, 2016. But as per record of the Nigam, the said amount was outstanding at that time and as such, in view of pendency of bills for the last four months against the complainant, the electricity connection of the complainant was disconnected by the ops-Nigam. Thereafter, the complainant has deposited the above said bill amount to the ops-Nigam and not made any application to the ops-Nigam for restoration of her connection. It is incorrect that the electric connection of the complainant was disconnected in the absence of the complainant or her family members, rather it was disconnected in the presence of the complainant herself. The complainant before filing the present complaint never came to the ops Nigam to get her connection restored. On receiving the notice of the present complaint by the ops Nigam, the ops-Nigam appeared before this Hon’ble Forum on 26.04.2017 and the connection was restored by the ops-Nigam on 27.04.2017 without any delay. The complainant has leveled totally false allegations as there was no any negligence on the part of the ops, rather the complainant has intentionally filed the present complaint only to harass and humiliate the answering ops. No sufferings have been caused by the ops to the complaint and as such she is not entitled to get any relief so claimed by her. Hence, it is respectfully prayed that the complaint in hand is false, frivolous and being devoid of any merit may kindly be dismissed with special costs for dragging the ops into false and baseless litigation.
3. The parties have led evidence in the form of affidavits and documents. The complainant has tendered Ex.CW1/A-her own supporting affidavit; Ex.CW2/B affidavit of Ranjeet Singh son of Sh. Nandan Singh, Ex. C1 and Ex.C3 electricity bills; Ex.C2 challan, Ex.C4 receipt, whereas, OP has tendered Ex.R1-affidavit of Shri Deepak, Sub Divisional Officer, DHBVN, ‘OP’ Sub Division City, Sirsa, District Sirsa, Ex.R2 detail of account.
4. We have gone through the pleadings and documents of the parties very carefully.
5. It is an admitted fact of both the parties that Shanti Devi, the complainant is holder of electricity connection bearing No.T12ST083820 (account no.0111280000) since long. The complainant was served a wrong electricity bill for the period of 1.10.2016 to 1.11.2016 for amount of Rs.45,511/-. She claimed that she never consumed this survey units. She immediately visited the office of op no.1 and lodged a formal complaint for correction of bill vide complaint no.3119 and 4019. Instead of correcting the bill her electric connection was disconnected without any prior notice to her and removed the meter from her house in her absence. She again approached op no.1 and requested to correct the bill, so that she may deposit the genuine amount. She deposited an amount of Rs.3378/- on 27.12.2016 but her connection was not restored. She has to knock the door of consumer forum for restoration of her electric connection. In support of her claim the complainant has submitted evidence by way of affidavits of the complainant Shanti Devi Ex.CW1/A, Ranjeet Singh Ex.CW2/B and documents Ex.C1, Ex.C3 and Ex.C4.
6. On the other hand, opposite parties have contested her claim. It has been stated by the ops that in the month of October, 2016 the meter reader wrongly noted reading in her meter as 4183 units and on the basis of wrong reporting of the meter reader the bill was issued for Rs.45511/- including Rs.36176/- on account of 4183 units. On receiving the request of the complainant the said bill was corrected and therefore, bill for Rs.3249/- was issued to her on 10.12.2016 up to the month of November. Since the said amount remained outstanding for about four months against the complainant, her electricity connection was disconnected as per the rules of the Nigam. It has further been argued that it is wrong to allege that her electric connection was disconnected in her absence rather it was disconnected in the presence of the complainant herself. According to the Nigam authorities on receiving the notice of the present complaint through the Hon’ble Forum to appear on 26.04.2017 and her connection was restored on 27.04.2017. As per averments made by the ops no sufferings have been caused by the ops to the complainant and as such she is not entitled to any relief as claimed by her. In support of their pleas, the ops have submitted evidence by way of affidavit of Mr. Deepak, SDO, DHVBN, Sirsa, Ex.R1 and Ex.R2 account details. But we do not agree with the contention of the ops. As a result of the various exhibits submitted by both of the parties, it is quite clear that the connection holder, Shanti Devi suffered at the hands of the Nigam authorities without any fault on her part. She has to be without electricity for more than three months in spite of the fact that bill of the energy consumption consumed by her was deposited on 27.12.2016 whereas the connection was restored on 27.04.2017 and that too after the complainant knocked the door of Consumer Forum. Therefore, it is established beyond any doubt that there is deficiency in service on the part of the ops.
7. Thus, as a sequel to our above discussion, we partly allow the present complaint. We are of the considered opinion that the old lady is entitled to get compensation on account of her sufferings, harassment and inconvenience, mental agony etc. we direct the ops to pay her a composite compensation of Rs.5000/- within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order, failing which the complainant will be entitled to interest @ 9% from the date of this order till actual payment. We also direct the ops to caution the concerned meter reader and place a copy of the caution note in his personal file who committed the mistake in this case. A copy of order be supplied to the parties free of cost. File be consigned to record room after due compliance.
Announced in open Forum. President,
Dated:30.11.2017. Member District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forum, Sirsa.
