BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 45 of 2014
Date of Institution : 01.04.2014
Date of Decision : 04.01.2017.
- Ashok Kumar son of Sh. Daulat Ram, aged 39 years, resident of Guru Nanak Nagar, Hisar road, Sirsa, Tehsil & District Sirsa (Haryana) holder Gas Connection No.8278.
- Devi Parsad Sharma son of Sh. Ashwani Kumar Sharma, aged 44 years, resident of Kirti Nagar, Street No.10 Begu road, Sirsa, Tehsil and District Sirsa (Haryana) holder of gas connection No.1768.
- Jeet Singh son of Sh. Sucha Singh, aged 53 years, resident of Guru Nanak Nagar, Hisar road, Sirsa, Tehsil and Distt. Sirsa (Haryana) holder of Gas Connection No.44862.
- Kamlesh Rani wife of Sh. Radhe Shyam, aged 44 years, resident of 33 K.V. Bijlighar colony, near Bus stand, Sirsa, Tehsil & District Sirsa (Haryana), holder of Gas Connection No.56664587.
- Mahanga Singh son of Sh. Piara Singh, aged 55 years, resident of Nohria Bazaar, Sirsa, Tehsil & Distt. Sirsa (Haryana) holder of Gas Connection No.2734.
- Naresh Kumar son of Sh. Mani Ram, aged 31 years, resident of Housing Board Colony, Sirsa, Tehsil and Distt. Sirsa (Haryana) holder of Gas Connection No.40384.
- Bhupender Kaur wife of Sh. Sadhu Singh, aged 43 years, resident of House No.152, HUDA Colony, Sirsa, Tehsil and District Sirsa (Haryana) holder of Gas Connection No.19483.
- Satish Kumar son of Sh. Swami Ditta, aged 49 years, resident of House No.1161, HUDA colony, Sirsa, Tehsil & Distt. Sirsa (Haryana) holder of Gas Connection No.10050.
- Sunil Mehta son of Sh. Ram Parsad, aged 46 years, resident of House No.538, Gobind Nagar, Hisar road, Sirsa, Tehsil & Distt. Sirsa (Haryana), holder of Gas Connection No.4947.
- Darshan Singh son of Sh. Inder Singh, aged 70 years, resident of House No.58, Kelnia road, Sirsa, Tehsil & Distt. Sirsa (Haryana), Holder of Gas Connection No.798.
……Complainants.
Versus.
- State of Haryana through Deputy Commissioner, Sirsa, Mini Secretariat Sirsa.
- District Food & Supply Controller, Sirsa, Mini Secretariat. Sirsa.
- M/s. Bhupindera Gas Agency, Additional Mandi, Sirsa.
- Regional Officer/ Sales Officer, LPG Territory, BPCL Dhansu road, Hisar, Haryana.
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986.
Before: SHRI S.B.LOHIA…………………PRESIDENT
SHRI RANBIR SINGH PANGHAL ………..……MEMBER.
Present: Smt. Pushpa Mehta, Advocate for the complainants.
Sh. Ajay Kumar, Govt. Pleader for opposite parties No.1 & 2 with Rajveer Singh, Clerk for op no.2.
Sh. Ashish Singla, Advocate for opposite parties No.3 & 4.
ORDER
The complainants ten in numbers have filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against the opposite parties.
2. Case of complainants in brief, is that supply of cylinders is not given by opposite party no.3 as per rules and in time. The complainants book for regular gas supply on online No.94664-56789 provided by the agency which is issued as per IVRS policy and except this mobile number, no booking is done on any other mobile number. The booking of the gas cylinder is not done before expiry of 25 days of delivery of cylinder and if the booking is done then the concerned employee says that 25 days are not completed, so booking is cancelled and ask for booking again and thereafter also cylinders are not delivered after 15 days. The gas cylinders are not being delivered to the complainants despite several telephonic calls and are told that their booking is cancelled. They are being harassed by the agency and sometimes they have to visit agency for taking cylinders and have to spend the whole day to receive the cylinder. The above said mobile number is also not a toll free number and charges are deducted. When the complainants made telephonic call on Customer Service centre at Hisar on telephone No.01662-296771, the concerned Officer told that there is no provision of 25 days from the company and they can take the cylinders as per required conditions of the Govt. As per the directions of the Government/ company, the customer can take 11 gas cylinders under subsidy at any time and there is no time limit for the same and can take number of cylinders without subsidy. Whenever any customer wants to get his gas connection transferred he has to make rounds for several times for several months. The complainant no.2 Devi Parsad deposited all the documents regarding transfer of his connection on 6.10.2013 in the gas agency and on the receipt there are signatures with date. On 13.12.2013 he again deposited all the documents for transfer of connection but despite passing of three months no action has been taken. The customers have to book the cylinders through online on the website of the company and have to suffer mental harassment. The complainant No.10 when received delivery of gas cylinder on 19.2.2014, Rs.1100/- were charged from him which is the price of cylinder without subsidy and he was told that Rs.730.70/- will be deposited in his account and the said amount came in his account on 24.2.2014. The opposite party no.2 also did not listen them and told them to make complaint to Sales Officer/ junior Food Officer and on complaint Sales Officer also did not give any satisfactory reply. When he was told that cylinders are sold in black, he misbehaved with the complainants and a complaint in this regard was made to Deputy Commissioner, Sirsa on 13.3.2014 and also to Chief Secretary, Haryana, DGP Haryana, DC Sirsa, IG, Hisar and main office of the company. The opposite parties are deficient in service towards the complainants. Hence, this complaint.
3. On notice, opposite parties No.1 & 2 in their reply took preliminary objections regarding maintainability; locus standi and jurisdiction. On merits, it has been submitted that regarding non booking/ cancellation of booking before expiry of 25 days of the first delivery, the District Administration had vide its letter No.9326 dated 19.2.2014 issued by DFSO Sirsa directed the answering ops not to book any refill before expiry of 25 days from the date of earlier refill. However, vide another letter No.3084 dated 17.7.2014, the DFSO Sirsa had withdrawn this condition of 25 days period for next booking. During the aforesaid period, the op no.3 was duty bound not to book any refill before the expiry of the period of 25 days as directed by the Local Administration. The record of the agency which is also available online clearly shows that the LPG refill supply is delivered to the customers within 24 to 74 hours of the booking subject to availability. Remaining contents of the complaint have also been denied.
4. Opposite party no.3 also followed the above said lines as that of ops No.1 & 2 and besides that it has been submitted that answering op supplies the gas cylinder regularly and within time to all its customers. There is no reason for the answering op to delay the supply except for any cause beyond the control such as shortage of supply or public holiday or non availability of the consumer at the address provided for the delivery or non production of copy or other relevant record by the consumer to the delivery man etc. The mobile number 94664-56789 is all Haryana Booking Mobile Number to provide facilitation to the consumers for easy booking of LPG cylinders. The answering op has no concern whatsoever with the maintenance, regularity and functionality of the booking through mobile. It is wrong that except this mobile booking cannot be done rather there are several other methods to get the LPG cylinders booking including online booking. In case of IVRS booking through mobile as well as online booking there is no necessity of sending SMS to any mobile number. It was an earlier practice initiated on the part of answering op to facilitate its consumers to book by way of SMS, but at that time, the IVRS system and online booking was not initiated. Remaining contents of the complaint have been denied.
5. OP no.4 also adopted the reply filed on behalf of op no.3.
6. In evidence, complainants have tendered affidavits and documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C100. On the other hand, ops No.1 & 2 tendered affidavit of Sh. Subhash Sihag, DFSC Ex.R1, copy of letter dated 17.7.2014 Ex.R2 and copy of letter dated 19.2.2014 Ex.R3. OPs no.3 & 4 tendered affidavit Ex.R4 and documents Ex.R5 to Ex.R32.
7. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the case file carefully. Written arguments on behalf of complainants as well as op no.3 have also been submitted which have been perused.
8. The District Food & Supply Controller, Sirsa vide its letter bearing No.9326 dated 19.2.2014 issued to all the Gas Agencies of the District Ex.R5 gave directions to all the gas agencies to book the refill after expiry of 25 days of earlier refill keeping in view the demands of the customers and supply by the companies. Then the above said decision was withdrawn by District Food and Supply Controller Sirsa vide letter bearing no.3084 dated 17.7.2014 Ex.R7. So the grievance of the complainants in this regard after filing of the present complaint on 1.4.2014 has already been redressed after 17.7.2014. In so far as grievance of the complainants regarding mobile No.94664-56789 is concerned, same is all Haryana Booking mobile number issued by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and according to op no.3 there are several other methods to get the LPG cylinders booking including online booking. Further more, complainants Naresh Kumar, Satish Kumar and Kamlesh Rani have given satisfaction notes regarding the services being provided by op no.3 to them as is evident from documents Ex.R8 to Ex.R10 and from the record available on file in the shape of documents Ex.R23 to Ex.R32, it is evident that all the complainants are getting regular supply of the gas cylinders. There is also no substance in the remaining allegations of the complainants.
9. Thus, as a sequel to our above discussion, we find no merit in the present complaint and same is hereby dismissed but no order as to costs. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the record room after due compliance.
Announced in open Forum. President,
Dated: 04.01.2017. Member. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forum, Sirsa.
