Date of filing:- 03/02/2016.

Date of Order:-27/07/2016.

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTED REDRESSAL FORUM (COURT)

B A R G A R H

Consumer Complaint No. 04 of 2016

Chittaranjan Panda, son of Late Sachidananda Panda , aged about 53(fifty three) years, At-Canal Colony, Bargarh Ward No- 09, P.O-/P.S/Dist- Bargarh.

..... ..... ..... Complainant.

- V e r s u s -

Executive Engineer, Electrical WESCO, Bargarh, At/Po/Ps/Dist. Bargarh.

..... ..... .....Opposite Party.

Counsel for the Parties

For the complainant:- Himself.

For the Opposite Party:- Ex-party.

-: P R E S E N T :-

Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... P r e s i d e n t.

Sri Pradeep Kumar Dash ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... M e m b e r.

Dt.27/07/2016 -: J U D G E M E N T :-

Presented by Sri K.P. Mishra, President:-

Case in brief:- The case of the complaint U/S 12 of the C.P.Act in brief is, that the complaint is a consumer of Wesco electricity vide consumer no-512121140155 having being supplied with electricity power from the Electricity Board under the office of the Executive engineer Bargarh (herein after will be called as the opposite party) till to- day and he has been paying the bill for the same each month as per the bill given by the department of the o.p as per his consumption of the same till to-day. But suddenly to his utter surprise in the month of February 2013 the complaint was given a penalty Bill for an amount of Rs 15,500/- (Rupees fifteen thousand five hundred)only without assigning any reason or notice for the said amount to him.

However being a law abiding citizen the complainant paid the same amount of Rs 15,500/-(Rupees fifteen thousand five hundred)only on Dt. 05.02.2013 vde receipt no-5166176 issued by the official of the Opposite Party and asked the reason for such penalty on him to all the authorities like sectional officer , sub-divisional officer but no- body could give him any reply. However, as he has already paid the said penal amount of bill, from the next months he should have been supplied with the normal bill as per his consumption but again to his surprise the normal bill amount along with the penal amount which he has already paid as per the aforesaid receipt given to him showing the same as arrear amount and the episode continued up to June 2015 in each monthly bill which should not have come from the very next month. So for such negligence callousness of the department of the Opposite Party, the complainant ran to all the authorities (from pillar to post) of the department for several time for rectification and deletion of the same from his regular monthly bill but none of the authorities paid any heed to his both oral and also written grievance whereby he severely suffered both mentally and physically and thereby his profession who is an advocate by profession also suffered a lot for such a lot time. And as such he filed this case in this august forum on Dt. 03.02.2016 with an allegation of unfair trade practice and not rendering proper service to him ,and has claimed an amount of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh) as compensation towards his mental agony & physical harassment for running behind the department of the Opposite Party from Dt.05.02.2013 to June 2015, And has claimed such period as continuous cause of action. And in support of his such allegation has filed all the bills from the period in which he was issued with the penal bill and it,s receipt along with other bills issued by the department of the Opposite Party.

As such the case was heard by the forum, perused the complaint and the documents filed by the complainant and the forum was pleased to admit the case as a prima facie case under the Consumer Protection Act-1986 and directed to give notice to the Opposite Party for his appearance and to file his version if any against the said allegation. The notice was duely served on the Opposite Party and summoned was returned back on Dt.14.03.2016. But to the surprise of the forum the o.p did not turn of nor bother to file any version on his behalf in the hands of any body of his subordinate .Still then the Forum waited for him till Dt.05.07.2016 considering lest he would come in the mean time but in vain as such on Dt. 5.07 .2016 the Forum was pleased to pass order setting the opposite party ex-party and taken off the case for hearing on ex-party.

The Forum very carefully and vividly perused the complaint petition, documents filed by the complainant and heard the Advocate /Complainant and after scrutinizing the bills prior to the alleged bills and the subsequent bills and found that the said bill of penalty for such an amount of Rs. 15,500/-(Rupees fifteen thousand five hundred) was levied on the complainant was a baseless and arbitrary one in the absence of any reply to that effect though the complainant has asked the opposite party personally and by writing also and at the same time in spite of that in each subsequent bills by the department of the Opposite Party the same amount have been mentioned as arrear amount with out taking care of the repeated request and reminder given to delete the same by the complainant which shows how the o.p and his staffs are careless in their duty and after two years and four moths according to their sweet will they them self deleted the same mentioning the same as arrear which proves their adamant and callousness towards their duty and how they are deficient in giving service to their customer and in turn how the Opposite Party himself is careless to administer his duty and deficient in giving service to his customer being such a highly paid officer of the electricity department.

However furthermore on perusal of the bills it is crystal clear that all the bills excepting the so called penal bill are given to the complainant as per his consumption firstly the penalty bill in the month of February -2013 is an arbitrary one which clearly proves the unfair trade practice on the part of the Opposite Party and non redressing the complain to rectify the subsequent bills by deleting the repeated mention of the penal bill even after payment of the same in the subsequent bill of the complainant even after several reminder to the Opposite Party and his officers shows as to how the Opposite Party is deficient in giving service to his customer. And in this circumstances it is quite but natural for anybody to undergo in stress and mental & physical harassment enabling him to be entitled for compensation. Hence in our considered view the opposite party has committed unfair trade practice and deficiencies in giving service to the complainant for which of his such action he is liable for legal action as per the provision of the consumer protection Act and hence liable to pay an amount of Rs. 20,000/-(Rupees twenty thousand only) with 12%(twelve percent) interest from the date of Dt.05.02.2013 when he was given the said penal bill , with in one month from the date of the order of the Forum and in default he is Directed to pay interest on the compensation amount @ 18% P.A. till realization of the same.

Hence accordingly the order is passed by the Forum, with a direction to the Opposite Party to pay an amount of Rs.20,000/-(Rupees twenty thousand only) with interest @12% (twelve percent) per annum form the Dt. 05/02/2013 till the date of this Order i.e. Dt.27/07/2016 within one month from the date of the order of the Forum and in default to pay the amount of compensation with interest @ 18% (eighteen percent) per annum till realization of the same.

We pronounce the aforesaid order to-day i.e on Dt.27.07.2016 in the open forum. And accordingly the case is disposed off.

Typed to my dictation

and corrected by me.

I agree, (Sri Krishna Prasad Mishra)

P r e s i d e n t.

(Sri Pradeep Kumar Dash)

. M e m b e r.