COMPLAINT FILED ON: 29.04.2009 <br /> DISPOSED ON: 18.08.2010<br /> <br /> BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM AT BANGALORE (URBAN)<br /> <br /> 18TH AUGUST 2010<br /> <br /> PRESENT:- SRI. B.S.REDDY PRESIDENT <br /> SMT. M. YASHODHAMMA MEMBER <br /> SRI.A.MUNIYAPPA MEMBER<br /> <br /> COMPLAINT NO.980/2009<br /> <br /> <br /> COMPLAINANT <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Smt. Mumtaz Begum,<br /> W/o.Abdul Kareem Shaikh,<br /> Aged about 55 years,<br /> No.55, 5th Cross,<br /> Manjunathanagar,<br /> New Guddadahalli,<br /> Bangalore-560 026.<br /> <br /> Advocate – Sri. H.G. Lagali<br /> <br /> <br /> V/s.<br /> <br /> <br /> OPPOSITE PARTY M/s. H.P. Gas,<br /> Maheshwari Agencies,<br /> No.258, 3rd Main Road,<br /> Chamrajpet,<br /> Bangalore – 560 018.<br /> <br /> Advocate – Sri. B.K.Sridhar<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> O R D E R<br /> <br /> SMT. M. YASHODHAMMA, MEMBER<br /> <br /> The complainant filed this complaint u/s. 12 of the C.P. Act of 1986 seeking direction against Opposite Party (herein after called as OP) to supply the gas cylinders regularly and to pay compensation of Rs.50,000/- as compensation for medical expenses and Rs.25,000/- for the loss, harassment and mental agony on an allegations of deficiency in service on the part of the OP.<br /> <br /> The case of the complainant to be stated in brief is that:-<br /> <br /> 2. The complainant is a consumer of H.P. Gas under Consumer No.625073 registered in the OP Agency. Earlier the complainant getting the supply of the gas at Mumbai, when she was residing there, after she shifted to Bangalore, the gas supply and connection is transferred from Mumbai to Bangalore, the OP is the H.P. Gas authorized agent. OP regularly supplied gas to the complainant till 02.02.2008; afterwards OP stopped the supply of gas without assigning any reason. The complainant got issued legal notice on 22.11.2008 for which OP has replied stating that J.J.Nagar Police have registered a Criminal case against one Sameer Ahmed on 20.11.2007 while he was transferring LPG gas from domestic gas cylinder to Auto Rickshaw gas cylinder. The said Sameer Ahmed disclosed that he had taken that cylinder from the complainant for the aforesaid illegal act. The OP proprietor and its manager returned letter to its principal, the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., has advised the OP to stop the supply of the gas and terminated the connection. OP has stopped the supply of the gas. The cylinders which are given by OP are still in the house of the complainant; she has not sold or transferred the cylinder to anybody. OP has failed to discharge the service by stopping the supply of gas, the same amounts to deficiency in service. The complainant is an old lady, she was forced to use fuel in the form of wood as a result of which she suffered the infection of lungs taken treatment and spent Rs.50,000/- for the treatment and medicines. Thus the complainant was advised to file the complaint seeking necessary reliefs. <br /> <br /> 3. On appearance, OP filed version contending that the complaint is not maintainable and the same is to be dismissed. OP is a distributor supplying (H.P.Gas) LPG cylinder to the customer. The complainant was issued with subscription voucher dated 04.01.2006 along with provision for the supply of 2 gas cylinders. OP received a communication from J.J.Nagar police station on 23.02.2008 that they have seized the LPG domestic cylinder belonging to HP Gas which was illegally decanting the product by one Sameer Ahmed to smaller cylinders used by Auto rickshaws; further it was informed that police have booked a criminal case against Sameer Ahmed. On enquiry Sameer Ahmed has taken the seized cylinder from Mumtaz Begum; immediately OP informed its principal M/s. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., regarding the enquiry and communication made by the J.J.Nagar police on 05.03.2008; M/s. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., by its letter has informed the OP to immediately stop the supply of the LPG cylinder to the complainant; since the cylinder seized by the police belonged to Mumtaz Begum and OP was informed to terminate the connection if it’s used for diversion. All consumers are issued with deposited documents such as subscription voucher and domestic gas card booked and number coupon book; when a refilled cylinder is delivered, the delivery men checks the leakage/weight etc., to the customer and records the details of the date and number of the cylinder in a cash memo in the presence of the customer and in turn, the customer signs the cash memo and enters his telephone number, the copy of the original cash memo along with other details has retained with the dealers the same is enclosed with the version. OP has verified the seized cylinder and found the number as SR-142840-P. Further upon verification of the records kept by the OP, it is revealed that cylinder said bearing number was delivered to Mumtaz Begum on 22.09.2007. OP is not aware that how complainant is retaining 2 cylinders inspite of J.J.Nagar police have seized the subject cylinder in the statement before the police; the complainant has admitted that she had loan the seized cylinder to one Sameer Ahmed on his request. When this being the case the contention of the complainant that she does not know Sameer Ahmed hold no water. The details of cylinder mentioned in the complainant notice is only a batch number and test dates and not serial number of the seized cylinder; there is a specific condition that no customer shall loan the cylinder else for any reason. The violation of the same would entail to termination of the LPG connection to the customer. Since the complainant has violated the said condition, upon the directions by its supplier M/s.Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, OP has stopped the supply of LPG cylinder to the complainant. Hence there is no deficiency in service on the part of the OP. Hence it is prayed to dismiss the case with exemplary costs.<br /> <br /> 4. To substantiate the complaint averments complainant filed her affidavit evidence and produced gas cylinder, delivery receipt of customer copy, copy of the legal notice dated 20.11.2008, reply notice, medical prescription, Ultra scan report and discharge summary gas subscription voucher issued by M/s. Hindustan petroleum Corp. Ltd. On behalf of OP its partner Sri.N. Ramaswamy filed his affidavit evidence and produced letter dated 05.03.2008 issued by M/s. Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. Gas cylinder delivery receipt, dealers copy, list of seized gas cylinders, circular, FIR, Police complaint, statement of the complainant before police, Judgement copy of the C.C. No.7781/08. Complainant submitted written arguments. Heard the complainant. Taken as heard for OP side.<br /> <br /> 5. From the above pleadings, the points now that arise for our consideration in this complaint are as under:<br /> <br /> Point No. 1 :- Whether the complainant has Proved <br /> the deficiency in service on the part of <br /> the OP?<br /> <br /> Point No. 2 :- If so, whether the complainant is <br /> entitled for the relief’s now claimed?<br /> <br /> Point No. 3 :- To what Order?<br /> <br /> 6. We have gone through the pleadings of the parties, both affidavit and documentary evidence and the arguments advanced. In view of the reasons given by us in the following paragraphs our findings on the above points are:<br /> <br /> Point No.1:- Affirmative<br /> Point No.2:- Affirmative in part<br /> Point No.3:- As per final Order.<br /> R E A S O N S<br /> <br /> 7. At the out set it is not at dispute that the complainant is consumer of H.P gas under consumer No. 625073 registered with OP Agency. When complainant was residing at Mumbai she was getting the supply of the gas at Mumbai. After she shifted to Bangalore the gas Supply connection is transferred from Mumbai to Bangalore. The complainant claims that OP supplied the gas till 02.02.2008 regularly, thereafter OP stopped the supply of gas and she got issued legal notice on 22.11.2008, OP replied for the same stating J.J. Nagar, Police have registered a criminal case against one Sameer Ahmed on 20.11.2007, while he was transferring LPG gas from domestic gas cylinder to Auto Rickshaw gas cylinder and the said Sameer had disclosed that he had taken the cylinder from the complainant. OP’s Principal M/s Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited has advised the OP to stop supply of gas to the complainant. Hence OP stopped the supply of gas to the complainant. The complainant felt deficiency in service on the part of the OP; hence she was advised to file the complaint seeking necessary reliefs. <br /> <br /> 8. It may be noted that OP disconnected the gas supply connection to the complainant mainly on the ground that J.J. Nagar, Police registered criminal case against one Sameer Ahmed and seized gas cylinder while he was transferring LPG gas from domestic gas cylinder to auto rickshaw gas cylinder and said Sameer disclosed that he had taken the cylinder from the complainant. OP has produced the copy of the judgement in CC No.7781/08 on the file of III Additional, CMM, Bangalore in respect of the case registered against Sameer. The said case has been ended in acquittal holding that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt of the accused. Thus it becomes clear that the case registered against Sameer has already been ended in acquittal. There is no any acceptable material to hold that the seized cylinder bearing No.142840 – P by J.J. Nagar Police belongs to the complainant, so as to hold that she has allowed Sameer to make use of the same for illegal purposes. The statement of the complainant before J.J. Nagar Police stated to have been recorded by the IO stating that she has given the cylinder to the Sameer cannot be accepted as an admission for the reason that the said statement is not signed by the complainant and the police official who has recorded the said statement has not filed affidavit in support of the same. <br /> <br /> 9. The learned counsel for the OP contended that the seized cylinder bearing No.142840 – P was supplied to the complainant on 22.09.2007; the tax invoice of dealers copy produced clearly disclose the cylinder number. As against this learned counsel for the complainant contended that the tax invoice of customer copy does not bear the cylinder number, as such subsequently in the dealers tax invoice, the said number has been mentioned just to oblige the police and that cylinder was not supplied to the complainant. In our view in case if the said cylinder was supplied to the complainant, tax invoice customer copy furnished to the complainant could not have been silent regarding cylinder number. Only in the dealers copy the cylinder number has been mentioned. There is some force in the contention of the complainant that subsequently in the tax invoice of dealers copy; the seized cylinder number has been mentioned only to connect the complainant with that case. The complainant is having two cylinders; in case if the seized cylinder belongs to complainant, she could not have in possession of two cylinders. <br /> <br /> 10. For the legal notice dated 22.11.2008, OP has sent reply stating that the restoration of supply will be only after the court and the police due clearance in this regard. Now admittedly the criminal case filed against one Sameer is ended in acquittal. There is no satisfactory material to hold that the seized cylinder by the police belonged to this complainant. Only on account of the case registered against Sameer and based on his statement that he has taken that cylinder from the complainant; OP informed the M/s Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited. On the basis of the same the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited by its letter dated 05.03.2008 marked as Annexure – R-1 directed OP to terminate connection immediately if it is used for diversion and retreat cylinders from the customer. Since there is no material to hold that the customer i.e., the complainant has used the cylinder by allowing Sameer in committing the illegal act, the complainant cannot be penalized for no fault on her side. Under these circumstances we are of the view that OP was not justified in terminating the connection supplying the gas to the complainant. The complainant proved deficiency in service on the part of the OP. There is no merit in the contention that the complainant is entitled for compensation of Rs.50,000/- as she suffered the infection of lungs and she had taken treatment. However the complainant is entitled for the relief directing OP to restore connection and supply the gas cylinders. Accordingly we proceed to pass the following: <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> O R D E R<br /> <br /> The complaint filed by the complainant is allowed in part. OP is directed to restore gas connection and supply the HP Gas cylinders to the complainant under consumer No.625073 registered with OP. Considering the nature of dispute no order as to costs. <br /> <br /> This order is to be complied within four weeks from the date of this order. <br /> <br /> Send copy of this order to both the parties free of costs. <br /> <br /> (Dictated to the Stenographer and typed in the computer and transcribed by him, verified and corrected, and then pronounced in the Open Court by us on this the 18th day of August 2010) <br /> <br /> <br /> PRESIDENT<br /> <br /> <br /> MEMBER MEMBER <br /> <br /> s.n.m. <br />