DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION: BHADRAK : (ODISHA).
Consumer Complaint No. 38 of 2023.
Date of hearing : 07.11.2023.
Date of order : 19.12.2023.
Dated the 19th day of December 2023.
1. Minakshi Arakha, aged about 48 years,
W/o:- Late Ajit Kumar Arakha,
2. Sri Satyajeet Arakha, aged about 24 years,
3. Sri Debajeet Arakha, aged about 18 years,
All are At/Po:-Bayabanpur, P.S:- Bhandaripokhari,
Dist- Bhadrak, Odisha, Pin-756120,
Mob No. 8917333362 & 7008962977. . . . . . Complainants.
Vrs.
- Maruti L.P.G. Gas Office,
12/37, Samiran Roy Road, Asansol, West Bengal-713301.
- M/s. Shree Jagannath Gas Agency,
L.P.G. Distributor, Biswal Commercial Complex,
At/Po:-Naya Bazar, PS/Dist:- Bhadrak-756100.
- The Regional Manager,
Regional Office, HPCL, P-4, Oil Installation Road,
Paharpur, Kolkata - 700088.
- The Chairman & Managing Director,
H.P. Gas, Petroleum House, 17, Jamshedji Tata Road,
Mumbai - 400020. . . . . Opp. Parties.
P R E S E N T S.
1. Sri Shiba Prasad Mohanty, President,
2. Smt. Madhusmita Swain, Member.
Counsels appeared for the parties.
For the Complainant : Sri Debasis Nayak, Advocate & Associate.
For the Opp. Parties : Ex-parte.
J U D G M E N T.
SRI SHIBA PRASAD MOHANTY, PRESIDENT.
In the matter of an application filed by the complainant alleging deficiency of service against the Opposite Parties under Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Fact of the case is that, the complainants are legal heirs & successor in interest of Late Ajit Kumar Arakha, who has been died due to gas cylinder burst. As such complainants are consumer. The complainants are resident of Bhadrak. Late Ajit Kumar Arakha was remaining in the premises of Bidyadhar Behera, Satadanga, Sardapolly under PS Hirapur, Asansol, West Bengal. Bidyadhar Behera is a consumer under O.P.1 having his domestic consumer card bearing No.500759, SV No.1014710-8532583, 20.03.2015 which was issued to him. Since the Bidyadhar Behera has been accepted as a consumer under O.Ps & has been purchasing HP Gas regularly from the O.P.1. Bidyadhar Behera used to book the LPG refill with the O.P.1 & when the cylinder was exhausted & the representative of O.P.1 used to connect the new cylinder by detaching the old one on payment. On 13.11.2020 when Ajit Kumar Arakha & Bidyadhar Behera along with his family members were at home there was leakage from cylinder & pungent smell came out for which Ajit Kumar Arakha, Bidyadhar Behera along with his family members were afraid of & there after there was a blast having high sound & also suddenly the husband/father of the complainants Ajit Kumar Arakha & mother of Bidyadhar Behera got burn injury & the house of the Bidyadhar Behera got engulfed in fire. The fire station staff of Asansol rushed to the spot & extinguished the fire & rescue Ajit Kumar Arakha & mother of Bidyadhar Behera from the fire. Ajit Kumar Arakha admitted in the hospital & for better treatment he had shifted to SCB Medical College & Hospital, Cuttack vide Indoor Regd. No.2102, dtd.27.11.2020 & died on 01.12.2020 due to thermal burn, dyelectricytemia etc. The said incident occurred due to blast of the gas cylinder due to leakage. The complainant spending huge amount for treatment of Ajit Kumar Arakha. Being the distributor of HP Gas, the staff of Maruti L.P.G. Gas Office (O.P.1) told to the complainant to submit necessary documents before them as the Oil companies used to take comprehensive insurance policy under a public liability policy for oil industries to provide speedy relief to the affected persons in case of L.P.G. related accident. On 16.04.2021 as per the advice of the staffs of Maruti L.P.G. Gas Office (O.P.1) & believing their words the complainant submitted all the relevant documents after obtaining the same from OIC, Asansol Fire Station & SCB Medical College & Hospital, Cuttack. The staffs of Maruti L.P.G. Gas Office (O.P.1) also obtained the signatures of complainant in different papers & forms giving assurance to complainant that those documents are required for settlement of claim & also told that very soon the company officials will disburse the claim amount as per norms of company to complainant through O.P.2 i.e. M/s. Shree Jagannath Gas Agency as complainants remaining at Bayabanpur in the district of Bhadrak, Odisha. Since 03.01.2021 till 14.01.2022 the complainant had been running to the distributor point of O.P.1 again & again for disbursement of claim, but the O.P.1 went on delaying the matter & all the approaches & requests of complainant to the O.Ps became futile and yielded no results. The complainant was highly shocked & mentally worried due to lackalasical attitude of O.P.1 in settlement of his claim due to blast of gas cylinder which was supplied by him to Bidyadhar Behera on payment. Finding no alternative way the complainant stating the facts sent a notice dtd.14.11.2022 to the O.Ps by Regd. Post for disbursement of claim at an early date which has occurred due to LPG related accident. All the O.Ps are well aware regarding claim of the complainant but are sitting idle over the matter without any just & reasonable cause though the complainant has submitted all the documents before the O.P.1 since long. The O.Ps are totally deficient & negligent in providing proper service to customers like complainant. They remained silent over the matter for which the cause of action for filing this case & continuing day by day. The complainant never committed any willful default or negligence in performance of his contractual obligation. In other hand a serious responsibility under law cast against the O.Ps but no effective steps have yet been made which amounts to deficiency in service on the part of the O.Ps. More to say the O.Ps are totally ignoring as to what is his duty & obligations to their customer. For the unfair trade practice & deficiency of service the complainant has sustained a loss & facing mental agony in his day today way of life& it cannot be compensated in any other term. The cause of action arose on dtd.13.11.2020 when there was an outbreak of fire in the house of Bidyadhar Behera & on dtd.14.11.2022 when the complainant issued notice to the O.Ps for early settlement of claim. The complainant has prayed to direct the O.Ps to compensate the complainant to a tune of Rs.6,00,000/- for death & Rs.2,00,000/- for medical expenses with 9% interest from the date of incident i.e. 13.11.2020 & Rs.1,50,000/- towards his mental agony, unnecessary harassment, humiliation & personal damage & Rs.40,000/- as litigation cost.
O.Ps set ex-parte on 04.09.2023.
The complainant has relied on decision in Lt Viju Samuel Vrs M/S Associate Roadways (98(2004) CLT 9(OSC) wherein Hon’ble Odisha State Commission has been pleased to observe that notices have been held sufficient and they were found absent on call. No written version has been filed. These OPs are set ex-parte in the previous date and there is no hindrance in accepting the uncontroverted statement of the complainant. In this instant case after giving ample opportunity to these OPs on 26/07/2023 they were set ex-parte after perusal of postal tracking reports. The documents filed by the complainant abundantly clearly says that the deceased Ajit Kumar Arakha succumbed to his burn injuries sustained due to bursting of the Gas Cylinder. There is no other recipients of compensation amount except these claimant complainants. Medical treatments in government hospitals are free now days. Further, there is no material in the case record to say that these complainants incurred expenses towards medical treatment.
Even in a sensitive case like untimely death of a human due to LPG Cylinder bursting, these OPs did not appear before this commission. Inference is taken from such act that these OPs are not at all considerate and they do not bother for the plight of their consumers. This is shear signature deficiency in service. In these circumstances, this commission has absolutely no hesitation in holding these OPs guilty in deficiency of service.
O R D E R.
In the result, the complaint be & same is allowed. These OPs are directed to pay the legal heirs of the deceased Rs.6,00,000/- towards compensation and Rs.1,00,000/- towards mental agony and harassment and an amount of Rs.20,000/- towards cost of the litigation. The whole amount is to be paid within 60 days from the date of order and if these OPs failed to pay the amount within the stipulated period, they shall pay the amount with an interest of 6% from the date of order to actual date of payment.
This order is pronounced in the open Court on this the19th day of December 2023 under my hand and seal of the Commission.
