BEFORE THE PRESIDENT, DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, SAMBALPUR

C.C NO-31/2016

Present-Sri Dipak Kumar Mahapatra, President, Smt. Smita Tripathy,Member (W).

Sudarshan Pradhan,aged about 52 years,

S/O-Maheswar Pradhan,

R/O- Burla,Qr. No-F-15/10,P.O/P.S-Burla,

Dist-Sambalpur.                                                                                             …..Complainant

Vrs.

1.  Executive Engineer,WESCO,

Electrical Division,Sambalpur,

At/P.s-Ainthapali, P.O-Budharaja,

2. Sub-Divisional Officer,WESCO,

Sub-Division Burla,

3. Junior Engineer,WESCO,
4.  
5.  

Counsels:-

1. For the Complainant:-    Sri Gopal Prasad Lal, Advocate & Associates.
2. For the O.P-1,2& 3:-        Sri S.K.Dora,Advocate & Associates.

DATE OF HEARING : 10.03.2021, DATE OF ORDER :12.04.2021

SRI DIPAK KUMAR MAHAPATRA, PRESIDENT:-Brief facts of the case is that the Complainant being an employee of University college of Engineering has allotted a quarter bearing No-F-15/10 on dtd. 30.10.2000. He has applied for electric connection to the O.P-2 on deposit of Rs. 410/- and on the direction of O.P-1 & 2 electric connection was connected by the O.P-3.  The Complainant was regularly paying the electric bill in the office of the O.P-2 every month.  But the cashier of the O.Ps issued the receipt in the name of one John Sarkar and on objection the O.P-2 & 3 assured the Complainant to remove the name from the bill but the same mistake was done after two-three months. On dtd.16.03.2016 the Complainant received a notice of disconnection and to pay a sum of Rs.97,811 as an outstanding bill bearing account no-411333080037 as on January-2016. The O.P-2 & 3 threatened him to pay the outstanding amount lying against John Sarkar failing which they will disconnect the electric line and odue to non payment they disconnected the power supply. The O.p-1 & 2 suggested to deposit a sum of Rs.20,000/- as security and they will resume the power supply. A cheque was issued by the Complainant for Rs. 20,000/- to the O.P-1 & 3 and again the O.P-2 issued a receipt in the name of John Sarkar for which the Complainant reacted a lot. The act of the O.Ps are amounts to gross negligence in service and the Complainant has sought certain relief from the Commission as per the petition.

 As per the O.Ps the electric connection vide consumer no- 411333080037 was originally in the name of one John Sarkar under domestic category for 2 kw to qtr no- F-15/10. But the Complainant has never intimated to the O.ps at any point of time about the allotment of the same quarter in his name. The arrear notice served to the Complainant was from the date 30.10.2010 till January 2016 against the power supply enjoyed by the Complainant. The Complainant has only paid Rs.20,000/- and assured the O.Ps to submit the related documents of allotment of quarter in his name. After giving security deposit on 18.01.2001, the Complainant has neither followed up nor insisted for transfer of the connection to his name. The outstanding amount was Rs. 2017 till sept-2000 and the complainant was not paying regularly hence the bill was accumulated to Rs. 97,811/-. So the O.Ps has not committed any deficiency in service rather demanded their dues outstanding on the complainant.

POINTS OF DETERMINATION:-

1. Whether the Complainant is comes under the purview of Consumer Protection Act-2019?
2. Whether the O.Ps has committed any Deficiency in Service to the Complainant?

From the above discussion and materials available on records we inferred that the Complainant comes under the purview of Consumers as he is paying monthly electric bills to the O.Ps against the enjoyment of power supply to his quarter allotted by the Employer. It is seen that the quarter was allotted to the Complainant on dtd. 30.10.2000 which was previously occupied by one John Sarkar. Hence the bills must be calculated from the 31.10.2000 onwards. In the present case the O.Ps has not filed the billing ledger from the date of occupancy of the quarter by the Complainant from the day of allotment. The Complainant has deposited security amount of Rs.410/- with the O.P-2 on dtd. 18.01,2001 still the O.P-2 claims that they are not informed of about the allotment of the quarter in the name of the Complainant which is unbelievable. The Complainant has paid Rs. 36,800/-(as monthly payment Rs.16,800 +Rs.20,000/-) in different occasions from the date of living in the said quarter till filing of this complaint petition but the O.Ps claim that he has only paid Rs.20,000 which is totally false. Hence the allegation of the O.Ps that the unpaid dues amounting to Rs.97,411/-from the month of September-2000 is seems to be arbitrary. The O.Ps are trying to levy the outstanding dues of previous owner on the present occupier/Complainant and compelling him to pay is illegal.  In Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. v. DVS Steels & Alloys Pvt.Ltd. [2009 (1) SCC 210] this court held, while reiterating the principle that the electricity dues did not constitute a charge on the premises, that where the applicable rules requires such payment, the same will be binding on the purchaser. This court held:       "A transferee of the premises or a subsequent occupant of a premises with whom the supplier has no privity of contract cannot obviously be asked to pay the dues of his predecessor in title or possession, as the amount payable towards supply of electricity does not constitute a `charge' on the premises. A purchaser of a premises, cannot be foisted with the electricity dues of any previous occupant, merely because he happens to be the current owner of the premises. Hence the O.Ps has committed deficiency in service to the Complainant and we order as under:-

ORDER

The Complaint petition is allowed. The O.P No.-1,2 & 3 are jointly and severally  directed to provide the monthly electric bill to the Complainant from the day of his occupancy in the quarter till March-2021 and after deducting  the amount paid issue fresh bill lying outstanding in his name for which he can make payments accordingly. The O.P No.-1,2 & 3 are jointly and severally  directed to pay Rs. 50,000/-to the Complainant as Compensation for harassment, mental pain and agony and Rs.20,000/- as Cost of litigation. All the payment, as above, shall be made within a period of 4 weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order, failing which the O.Ps shall pay interest @ 5% per annum on this amount from the date of filing the complaint, i.e., 04.04.2016 till its realisation."

Order pronounced in the open Court today i.e, on 12^th day of April 2021 under my hand and seal of this Commission.

Office is directed to supply copies of the Order to the parties free of costs receiving acknowledgement of the delivery thereof.

I agree,                                                                                            

-Sd/-                                                                                                               -Sd/-

MEMBER(W)                                                                                                PRESIDENT  

                                                            Dictated and Corrected   

                                                                             by me.

                                                                             -Sd/-

            PRESIDENT.