This complaint is coming on for final hearing before us in the presence of Sri V.Ramana, Advocate for the complainant and Sri P.Venugopal Rao Advocate  for the OP No.1,2 & 3 and having stood over for consideration, the Forum made the following:-

O R D E R

GANTA APPALA NAIDU, MEMBER

        This complaint is filed U/s-12 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 seeking reliefs for passing an award in favour of the complainant and against the O.Ps, directing the O.Ps. to restore the telephone connection bearing No-268603, to pay Rs.20,000/- towards compensation for deficiency in service, to award costs of the complaint  and to grant such other or further reliefs as the Hon’ble Forum deems fit and proper under the circumstances of the case, in the interest of justice on the following averments:-

        The complainant is the subscriber of telephone connection No-08966-268603 to his house at Jami Village and mandal, Vizianagaram District, which was installed long time back and since the date of installation, the complainant has been paying the amounts as per the bills regularly without any default while it is so the complainant availed unlimited broad band service after installation of the same and the complainant has been paying the bills but to his utter surprise he received bill No-253331032 dated 06.12.2012 for the period from 01.11.2012 to 30.11.2012 which contains one time charges of Rs.965.93 paise being the charges for the subscription of Hungama Movie.  In fact the complainant is not the subscriber of Hungama movie and later when he enquired with the customer care he was informed that he is not the subscriber of Hungama movie and therefore he informed the O.Ps. that he is not the registered party or has access to any movie website and accordingly requested the O.Ps. to avoid the one time charges in his bill referred to above.  Inspite of the oral representation, the 2^nd OP did not respond on the same and hence the complainant was forced to write a letter to 2^nd OP on 16.01.2013 in response to which the said OP intimated that the amount of Rs.965.93 paise will be kept under dispute amount by directing the complainant to pay the remaining balance amount.

        In this connection, It is submitted by the complainant that when he is not the subscriber of Hungama movie, the O.Ps. have no right to collect any amount under the said head but the O.Ps. carelessly and negligently added the said amount in the bill in the account of the complainant and thereby caused much mental agony to him.

        Subsequently, to the utter surprise of the complainant, the O.Ps. disconnected the landline phone connection without any justifiable reason and the action of the O.Ps. in the above regard is illegal and unwarranted.  As a result of the above disconnection, the complainant was subjected to lot of suffering and also much mental agony and hence there is deficiency of service on the part of O.Ps.

        The complainant further submits that he got issued a registered notice dated 18.02.2013 but the O.Ps. having received the same neither settled the claim nor restored the telephone connection so far.  Hence this complaint.

        Counter filed by 2^nd respondent which was adopted by respondent No.1 and 3 denying the material allegations leveled by the complainant in his complaint except those which are specifically admitted therein and puts the complainant to strict proof of the same.  It was admitted by the respondent that the complainant is the subscriber of phone No.08966-268603 to his house at Jami village and Mandal and that the petitioner was provided broad band connection on 02.01.2006 under ULD 500 Rural combo plan.  It is further submitted that the subscriber wrote letters addressing the A.O, TR dated 29.12.2012 and 16.01.2013 denying the activation of “Hungama Movie on demand” and requesting for the removal of the charges of Rs.965.93 paisa but as per the directions of the higher authorities, 2^nd respondent addressed a letter dated 22.01.2013 by registered post bearing R.L.No.847726720 dated 29.01.2013 stating that Rs.965.93 paise levied in the bill of 06.12.2012 as one time charges towards Hungama Movie on demand with activation dated 01.11.2012 is set  aside as disputed amount pending enquiry and requested to pay the balance amount of Rs.681.07 paisa and also amount of Rs.621.32 paisa towards 06.01.2013 invoice bill which was due at that time to reconnect the telephone.  It is further submitted that owing to non-payment of the bill dated 06.12.2012 by the complainant, telephone was disconnected on 21.01.2013 (out going facility) and later since the complainant also failed to pay the balance amount of Rs.681.07 paise and also an amount of Rs.621.32 paise towards invoice bill dated 06.01.2013 which was due at that time so as to reconnect the telephone, the incoming facility was also disconnected consequently on 07.03.2013.  The following are the details of due amounts from the complainant:-

1. Invoice bill amount Rs.1,647/-
2. Invoice bill amount Rs.   621/-
3.  Invoice bill amount Rs.   572/-
4. Invoice bill amount Rs.   571/-
5. Invoice bill amount Rs.   118/-

                                                               Total amount  Rs. 3,535/-

        It is also submitted that the complainant as such is liable to pay the said outstanding due amount of Rs.3,535/- as mentioned supra.  Further, in fact the complainant was provided indicator No-278603 initially upto 31.08.2012 and the indicator was changed to 268603 with effect from 01.09.2012 by BSNL due to technical reasons.  The complainant opted for activation of Hangama MOD on 16.02.2012 which in fact was suppressed by the complainant, in his complaint, in respect of which confirmation mail was received in this regard from M/s. Hungama MOD services. The charges levied under the said telephone bill dated 06.12.2012 found to be correct as stated above since hungama movies on demand activated by the subscriber on 16.02.2012 by providing his E-mail ID: “

        Therefore It is pleaded by the O.Ps. that there is neither deficiency of service nor any negligence on the part of respondent in rendering services to the subscriber.  In the light of the above it is prayed that the Hon’ble Forum may be pleased to dismiss the complaint with costs in the interest of justice.

        Exhibits A1 to A7 are marked on behalf of the complainant and exhibits B1 to B4 are marked on behalf of the O.Ps.

        Heard arguments.  Posted for orders.  The orders are as follows:-

        The counsel for both the parties argued vehemently by reiterating what they have stated in the complaint, counter, evidence affidavits and brief written arguments respectively.

        The main contention advanced by the complainant is that though he has been paying the telephone bills regularly without any default to the telephone connection No-08966-268603 to his house at Jami Village and Mandal and availed unlimited broad brand service, he received bill No-253331032 dated 06.12.2012 for the period from 01.11.2012 to 30.11.2012 containing one time charges of Rs.965.93 paise being charges for the subscription of Hungama Movie, which is an utter surprise since he is not the subscriber of Hangama movie nor registered for the same or accessed any movie website and therefore the claim of the O.Ps. with regard to the aforesaid one time charges is illegal.  Another surprise experienced by the complainant is that the O.Ps. disconnected the landline phone connection both in respect of outgoing calls as well as incoming calls without any justified reason and therefore the actions of the O.Ps. are illegal, unwarranted and also amounts to deficiency in service and dereliction in their duties. 

The O.Ps. contended that owing to non-payment of the bill dated 06.12.2012 by the complainant, telephone was disconnected on 21.01.2013 (outgoing facility) and later since the complainant also failed to pay the balance amounts towards bill dated 06.01.2013 which was due at that time so as to reconnect the telephone, the incoming facility was also disconnected consequently on 07.03.2013 and the complainant is liable to pay the outstanding due amount of Rs.3,535/-.  Further the complainant was provided indicator No-278603 initially upto 31.08.2012 and the indicator was changed to 268603 with effect from 01.09.2012 by the BSNL due to technical reasons.  The complainant opted for activation of Hungama MOD on 16.02.2012 which in fact was suppressed by the complainant in his complaint. Therefore the O.Ps. plead that there is no deficiency or negligence on their part.

        Perusal of the material available on record and subsequent oral arguments reveals that no option was exercised by the complainant for Hungama Movie or accessed any website relating to the said movie by the complainant and further no cogent evidence/proof could be submitted by the O.Ps. in regard to the same.  Therefore the charges made by the O.Ps. in their bill dated 06.12.2012 containing one time charges of Rs.965.93 paise is illegal and unjustified.  It is also evident that the disconnection of telephone facility both outgoing and incoming facility by the O.Ps. is also unjustified and illegal since the complainant has been paying the telephone bills regularly, until the extreme steps were taken by the O.Ps. as mentioned supra.

        During the course of advancing arguments the O.Ps. have submitted a memo dated 16.05.2014 regarding bill clarification and adjustments by allowing reliefs and accordingly the total amount payable by the complainant to the O.Ps. comes to Rs.374.49 paise after adjustment of subscriber deposit and agreed to restore the telephone connection. 

        In view of all the above discussions, the complaint is liable to be allowed in part.

        In the result, the complaint is partly allowed directing the O.Ps. to restore the telephone connection bearing No-08966-268603 to the house of the complainant with broad band service as usual without insisting on any further deposit or arrears of telephone bill except collecting Rs.374.49 paise and also pay Rs.3,000/- towards compensation for mental agony caused to the complainant and pay costs of Rs.1,000/- which includes advocate fee of Rs.500/-.  This order shall be complied with by the O.Ps. within one month from today. 

Dictated to the Steno, transcribed by him, corrected by me and pronounced by us in the open Forum, this the 7^th day of July, 2014.

Member                                                                 President

C.C.No.30/2013

For complainant:-                                   For opposite parties:-

        PW 1.                                                       RW 1.

DOCUMENTS MARKED

For complainant:-

Ex.A-1  Office copy of the letter dated 29.12.2012.

Ex.A-2  Copy of the Bill dated 06.01.2013.

Ex.A-3  Office copy of the letter dated 16.01.2013.

Ex.A-4  Copy of the Bill dated 06.02.2013.

Ex.A-5  Letter dated 22.01.2013 sent by the 2^nd respondent.                                                                                     

Ex.A-6  Office copy of the legal notice dated 18.02.2013.

Ex.A-7  Postal acknowledgements from the respondents 1 and 3.

For OP:-

Ex.B-1 BSNL Copy.

Ex.B-2 BSNL statement copy.

Ex.B-3 BSNL Copy.

Ex.B-4 BSNL Account Summary copy.

                                                          President