Orissa

Baleshwar

CC/247/2013

Smt Karamjit Walia - Complainant(s)

Versus

Executive Officer,Balasore Municipality & Others - Opp.Party(s)

Amarsingh Walia

19 Jul 2014

ORDER

COURT OF THE  DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, BALASORE

                                                          ……………….

                                    PRESENT:  Mr. MD. JOBER AHAMED, PRESIDENT

                                                       Mr. SUKUMAR RANA, MEMBER

                                                       Mrs. RASESWARI MOHANTY, MEMBER

                                    C.C  No. 247/2013

                                    Smt Karamjit Walia,

                                    W/O- Amarsingh Walia,

                                    Proof Road, Padhuanpada,

                                    Balasore- 756001.           …………. Complainant

                                       

                                                           (Vrs)

 

                   1.  Executive Officer,

                Balasore Municipality,

                Balasore.

  

           2.  Dilip Pani,

                Tax Daroga,

                              Balasore Municipality,

                              Balasore.                         …………..Opp. Parties

                                               Counsels for the Parties                                                                             

                                    For Complainant: - Represented through her husband

                                                                  Mr. Amarsingh Walia, Advocate.

                                    For Opp. Parties : - Sri  Bijoy Kumar Panigrahi, Advocate.

  

                                    Date of Hearing: -       02.07.2014

                                    Date of Order: -          19.07.2014

                                                                                    

                                                     J  U  D  G  E  M  E  N  T

RASESWARI MOHANTY, MEMBER

                                                Deficiency-in-service in respect of illegal cancellation of allotment of  Shop Room No.1 of Old Bus Stand at O.T.Road, Balasore  is the allegation arrayed against the Opp. Parties

                                                02. The allegation as unfolded in the complaint petition is briefly stated that the Room No.1 from the OP- Municipal Building situated at Old Bus Stand, O.T.Road, Balasore was allotted in favour of the Complainant since the year 2002 and thereafter the Complainant went on paying the monthly rents to OP- Municipality along with maintenance of said room in respect of repair of shutters, painting of room and fixation of furnitures there in and while so the Complainant received a letter dated 26.09.02 from OP No.1 which entails that the allotment of his said Room No.1 is cancelled and is allotted to Ex-partner Bandana panda. Upon receipt of such cancellation letter the Complainant did a complaint before Opp. Parties as to such illegal cancellation of room allotment without prior intimation and show cause Notice if anything gone wrong on his part but the OPs paid a deaf ear to same without preferring any credible reply which amounts to deficiency-in-service on the part of the Opp. Parties and consequent there upon the Complainant put to financial loss to the tune of Rs. 55,000/- towards maintenance of this room, Rs.2 Lakhs towards cost of furnitures & Rs. 16 Lakhs towards loss of business which needs to be compensated by the Opp. Parties.

                                                03. On being noticed though the Opp. Parties made their appearance into the case but did not prefer to file their show cause in their defence despite sufficient opportunities were given to them and at last they were made set-exparte for their non-prosecution.

                                             04. Having heard the ex-parte arguments advanced by the Legal representative of Complainant and upon perusal of documents filed into the case from the side of the Complainant, what we noticed is that in order to prove her case the Complainant had filed into the case the copy of allotment letter vide No. 6106 dated 26.09.02 issued by the OP No.1- Executive Officer in favour of Complainant. The said copy of allotment letter is marked as Annexure-C-I. On close scrutiny of said Annexure-C-I what we ascertained is that Shop Room No.1 of Old Bus Stand at O.T.Road, Balasore belonging to OP- Municipality was allotted in favour of Complainant since 01.10.02 on a monthly rent of Rs.200/- until further Order. Further we noticed that the Complainant tenant/lessee in order to prove her possession over the said case room had gone for filing into the case the copy of Miscellaneous Receipt vide No. 11939 having corresponding Book No. 120 dated 10.05.2013 granted by OP No.1- Executive Officer in favour of Complainant after collection of Rs. 1230/- towards House rent of case room for the month of January 2013 to March 2013. The said miscellaneous receipt in other words monthly rent

 receipt dated 10.05.2013 is marked as Annexure-C-II. Thus from the Annexures C-I & C-II, it is confirmed that the Complainant was in peaceful possession & enjoyment over the case room since more than 10 years to came till filing of the instant C.D Case. Further it is noticed that the Complainant had gone for filing into the case the copy of letter No. 5097 dated 04.09.2013 which was issued by OP No.1- Executive Officer, Balasore Municipality in favour of Complainant and her husband viz: Amarsingh Walia. The said copy of letter dated 04.09.2013 is marked as Annexure-C-III. On close scrutiny of Annexure-C-III it is noticed that it is a kind notice stating inter-alia there in that “In compliance of order dated 16.08.2013 of the Hon’ble High Court passed in the Writ Petition, the representation filed by the petitioner Bandana Panda has been considered along with the averments and directions made in their Writ Petition. The shop Room No.1 allotted in favour of Karamjit Walia and Shop Room No.3 allotted in favour of Amarsingh Walia found to have been sub-let in favour of petitioner Smt. Bandana Panda by them and they used to earn as middle men even though they have no agreement with Balasore Municipality after 01.08.2009. As such allotment in your favour stands cancelled”. On close scrutiny of the Annexure-C-III the circumstances reveals that the allotment of case room was made afresh in favour of one Smt. Bandana Panda after cancelling the allotment of Complainant viz: Smt. Karamjit Walia as per order dated 16.08.2013 passed in Writ Petition preferred by Smt. Bandana Panda before the Hon’ble High Court and for which the Complainant is no more interested to re-occupy the case shop room. Be that as it may, non of the parties made it clear before this Forum that what was the number of so called Writ Petition preferred before the Hon’ble High Court by Smt. Bandana Panda; who were made parties there in?; what was the subject matter of the said Writ Petition? What was the exact order passed there in? Had the Opp. Parties not made set-ex-party this Forum could have been enlightened as to exact sequence , situation and position of the case room, on the contrary what to speak of 45 days the statutory period in addition to grace period was over, rather as a whole more than 6 months was over but the Opp. Parties went on preferring time petitions on each & every dates to come for filing written version till they were made set ex-parte on 18.06.2014. In such a situation as per Annexure-C-III though it is not disputed by the  Complainant that after 01.08.2009 there was no such valid House rent agreement between the

 Complainant- Tenant and OP- Land Lord in existence still then the relationship of the OP- Municipality and Complainant was as a Land Lord and Tenant as the Complainant went on paying the House rents with the Office of the Opp. Parties till March 2013 as it evident from Miscellaneous receipt dated 10.05.2013 granted by OP- Municipality in favour of Complainant (Annexure-C-II). Despite all that the OP- Municipality did not bother and slept over the matter from 2009 to 2013 without going for execution of fresh House rent agreement with the Complainant- Tenant in respect of case room and went on collecting the monthly House rents till March 2013. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case it was well within the knowledge of OP No.1 that the case room was sub-let to one Bandana Panda by the Complainant- Tenant/ Lessee since long but he did not choose to interfere in the matter and now all of a sudden in his notice dated 04.09.2013 (Annexure-C-III) demanding to collect money to the tune of Rs. 1 Lakh from the Complainant towards differential Shop room rent. Such acts & omissions which amount to deficiency-in-service and/or unfair trade practice on the part of the OP No.1 must have rendered intense mental agony along with financial loss to Complainant which needs to be Compensated from the OP No.1. Accordingly complaint bears merit.                                                                                                                          

                                                             O  R  D  E  R  

 

                                   Keeping in view the  Judgment reflected above the Complaint is partly allowed with directions to OP No.1 to pay a sum of  Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh) to Complainant towards compensation for mental agonies and financial loss within one month from the date of communication of this Order.

                                            We freed the OP No.2 from any such liabilities.                                          

                                            Delay in any manner shall carry Rs. 100/- per day.

                                            No Order as to costs.

                                                 Pronounced in the open Court this the 19 th day of July 2014 given under my Signature and Seal of the Forum.

 

                                                                                                                      (Raseswari Mohanty)

                                                                                                                                Member

 

                                                                                                                                   

 

 

       (Sukumar Rana)                                      (Md. Jober Ahamed)     

              Member                                                      President