Present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 as amended upto date has been filed by the complainant Punjab State Warehousing , near circular road, Kapurthala through its district Manager against opposite parties i.e. M/s Janta Truck Operator's Union, near Railway Station, Kapurthala through its President Harvinder Singh and others seeking direction against them to pay Rs. 2,50,605/- alongwith interest on account of deficiency in service for loss of 29 Gunny Bails in fire during transportation and also for monetary compensation. 2. In nutshell facts in the complaint are that Complainant Corporation Punjab State Warehousing hired services of opposite party No.1 to 10 for transporting 29 Gunny Bails consisted of 500 bags each in a Bail amounting to 11600 Gunny bags from Kapurthala Railway Station to its Warehouse at Sultanpur Lodhi. It is further averred that Opposite party M/s Janta Truck Operator's Union is constituted by Members opposite parties No.3 to 11 and as such they are jointly and severally liable for payment of the amount claimed. . It is further alleged that on 22/4/2007 opposite parties got loaded 29 bails of Gunny bags from Kapurthala Railway Station for transporting the same to Sultanpur Lodhi vide Gate Pass No. 066/1066 of the complainant and Builty No. 1301 issued by opposite party No.1 to 10. and the Gunny bags were to be delivered at Warehouse sultanpur Lodhi on same day. Opposite party No.8 was driver of the said truck bearing Registration No. HR-58-4046 in which the Gunny bags were loaded.. Opposite parties wrongly and illegally took the said truck to the house of Puran Singh opposite party No.11 and parked the said truck on the roadside. and as such it got accidental fire with 11 K.V. wire passing over the side of the road and Gunny bags were totally destroyed. It is alleged that complainant suffered loss to the extent of Rs.3,58,800/- as detailed in para-7 of the complaint on account of deficiency in service on the part of opposite parties by parking the said truck on the road side near the house of opposite party No.11 and by not delivering the Gunny bags to its destination . Complainant has already deducted a sum of Rs.1,08,195/- from the opposite parties and now opposite parties are liable to pay remaining amount of Rs.2,50,605/- besides compensation for deficiency in its service. 3. Opposite parties appeared, controverted the allegations of the complainant and resisted its claim.. Preliminary objection has been raised that complaint is bad for non joinder of necessary party as Punjab State Electricity Board is a necessary party and as such complaint is not maintainable.. On merits, this fact is not disputed that 22/4/2007 opposite party No.11 got loaded 29 bails of gunny bags from Kapurthala Railway Station for transporting the same to Sultanpur Lodhi and that same caught fire with 11 K.V. wire and all Gunny bails loaded in the truck were destroyed besides truck damaged when it was parked outside the house of opposite party No.11. Therefore, there is no deficieny in service on the part of opposite parties as opposite party No.11 could not deliver the gunny bags on the same day as there was night time and it was not feasible to deliver the gunny bags in night. 4. Later on opposite parties failed to appear to produce evidence and its evidence was closed by order on 23/5/2008. 5. In support of its version Complainant produced in evidence affidavits an documents Ex.C1 to C11. 6. We have heard arguments of learned counsel for the complainant and perused defence pleas raised in the written statement and also analysed evidence produced by the complainant. The factum of entrustment of 29 bags of Gunny Bails with opposite party No.1 M/s Janta Truck Operator's Union through its opposite party No.11 for its transportation from Kapurthala Railway Station to Sultanpur Lodhi on 22/4/2007 is not disputed as it is evident from documents Ex.C5 letter dated 1/4/2007, gate-pass Ex.C6 and G.R. Ex.C7 dated 22/4/2007 and also letters Ex.C9 dated 7/5/2007 and C10 23/8/2007 to opposite party No.1 by the complainant for claiming loss of 29 bags of Gunny Bails in electricity fire. The freight charges of 29 gunny bails bags from Calcutta to Kapurthala vide Ex.C4 are contained therein. District Manager Punjab State Warehousing Corporation is also authorized to file the complaint vide authorisation Ex.C2 on behalf of Corporation. Two objections have been raised in the written statement that PSEB is necessary party and that complaint is not maintainable. As the complainant carries commercial transaction and the gunny bags were also purchased for commercial purpose i.e. to fill in food grains to be sold in market. We do not find any merit in these objections. There is unrebutted evidence of the complainant through affidavit of District Manager Ex.C1 that opposite party No.1 failed to transport goods to Sultanpur Lodhi from Kapurthala on 22/4/2007 and instead of reaching its destination, diverted the said truck loaded with 29 bags of gunny bails to the house of opposite party No.11 who was driving the said truck and parked the same on the roadside when it caught fire from 11 K.V. wire passing over the side of the road. There was no justification to park truck in the night outside the house of driver but it should have been brought to the place of its destination. Opposite parties canot wriggle out of its contractual obligation for safe delivery of goods to the place of destination on the plea that goods were destroyed in electricity fire for which Electricity Authorities are liable. The other defence plea is not tenable that complainant is barred from filing this complaint because it carries commercial transaction. As a matter of fact, Warehousing Corporation persistently deals with storing of goods brought from different places and does not deal in commercialization of goods as a wholeseller. The opposite party is not objected to deduction of sum of Rs.1,08,195/- for the total loss amount of Rs.3,58,800/- claimed by the complainant and detailed in para-7 of the complaint. In the ultimate analysis of aforesaid discussion, we accept this complaint and direct the opposite parties to pay Rs.2,50,605/- for the price of gunny bails and freight charges etc. alongwith monetary compensation of Rs.3000/- on account of deficiency in service and costs of litigation to the tune of Rs.1000/- to the complainant within a month from the receipt of copy of this order. Let certified copies of judgment rendered be supplied/despatched to the parties without any unnecessary delay and thereafter file be consigned to record room. Announced : ( Surinder Mittal ) ( A.K. Sharma ) Member President.
