Complainant Smt.Amarjit Kaur through the present complaint filed under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short 'the Act') praying for issuance of the necessary directions to the titled opposite parties being the different authorities/offices of Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd.,  at Patiala and Gurdaspur to refund the excess amount of Rs.9538/- duly paid by her  and also to issue future bills as per her consumption besides to pay her Rs.20,000/- as damages and compensation for causing harassment,  in the interest of justice.  

2.       The case of the complainant in brief is that she has been operating an atta chakki to earn her livelihood through self-employment and had been the holder of an electric power connection since Feb, 2013 and has been paying its consumption bills regularly. However, she received an excessive bill amount of Rs.28,000/- plus and that at her request was bifurcated into three installments of Rs.9536/-, Rs.9536/- and Rs.9538/- to be paid as equated  monthly installments. Further she has stated that having paid all the three installments including the last one of Rs.9538/- which the opposite parties have disputed as having not received the same. She has shown to the opposite party the receipt of Rs.9538/- duly received by the opposite party cashier but to no avail and hence she preferred the present complaint with the desired relief as prayed herein above.

3.       Upon notice, the opposite parties appeared through their counsel and filed the joint written version stating therein that although the receipt of Rs.9538/- has been issued by the cashier but the amount was not uploaded on the operative computer network system and is not showing thereon as such. The opposite party has further stated that the complainant has been duly depositing the future consumption bills and as such the present complaint deserves dismissal with costs.

4.           Counsel for the complainant tendered into evidence affidavit of complainant Ex.C1, alongwith other documents Ex.C2 to Ex.C5 and closed the evidence. 

5.       Counsel for the opposite parties tendered into evidence affidavit of Harmanpreet Singh Gill, S.D.O. Ex.OP-1 and consumption data Ex.OP2 and closed the evidence.

6.       We have carefully gone through the pleadings of both the parties; arguments advanced by their respective counsels and have also appreciated the evidence produced on record with the valuable assistance of the learned counsels for the purposes of adjudication of the present complaint.

7.       We observe that at the request of the complainant, the OP service providers agreed to receive/accept the consumption Bill (of 19.09.2013) for Rs.28,490/- in three equated installments of Rs.9,536/-, Rs.9,536/- and Rs.9,538/- and further both the parties do consent to have paid/received the first two installments but the present dispute pertains to the last installment of Rs.9,538/-. The complainant claims to have paid the same and have produced the Receipt Ex.C4 as evidence whereas the OP Corporation refuse to have received the same and have been continuously showing the amount as ‘outstanding’ in the succeeding Bills. We have examined the Receipt Ex.C4 dated 26.12.2014 for Rs.9,538/- handwritten amount in figures (on the installment approval format) and signed by the OP cashier Rakesh ID 268238 as a token of having received Rs.9,538/- and hold the same to be true. The OP service providers have not directly denied the receipt and/or its genuineness but they simply plead that this receipt of payment of Rs.9,538/- is not uploaded in their PC system network and for this lapse on their part, the complainant has been put to an inconveniencing harassment for which the OP are held guilty and liable.     

8.       In the light of the all above, we partly allow the present complaint and thus ORDER the opposite parties to set-aside the outstanding disputed amount of Rs. 9,538/- as having duly received and convey the same in writing to the complainant besides to pay him Rs.3,000/- as compensation for causing unnecessary harassment and Rs.2,000/- as cost of litigation within 30 days of the receipt of the copy of these orders otherwise the aggregate awarded amount shall attract interest @ 9% PA from the date of order till actually paid.  

9.           Copy of the order be communicated to the parties free of charges. After compliance, file be consigned to records.

                                    (Naveen Puri)                                                                                          

                                            President

ANNOUNCED:                   (G.B.S.Bhullar)           (Jagdeep Kaur)

January 23, 2015.                           Member.                    Member.           

*MK*