Complainant Sain Dass through the present complaint filed under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short 'the Act') has sought that the titled opposite parties be directed to withdraw the impugned Bill and also to return the amount so received under coercion besides to pay him Rs.50,000/- as compensation for having caused mental agony and physical harassment along with Rs.15,000/- as litigation expenses in the interest of justice.
2. The case of the complainant in brief is that his father during his life time owned the electric connection # G31CF220699W and after his demise he along with his family had been utilizing the electric connection and also paying the consumption Bills regularly. However, the OP Corporation drew upon him the impugned Bill dated 17.08.2014 for Rs.22,710/- that however he had to pay on 02.09.2014 under threat of disconnection. The impugned Bill did not have any item-wise details of amounts under different heads of accounts to make him aware of the same. The OP service providers also refused to entertain his request and hence he has preferred the present complaint with the desired relief as prayed, hereinabove
3. Upon notice, the Opposite Parties appeared through their counsel and filed the joint written version confirming the Electric connection in the name of the father of the complainant and his unauthorized usage of the same without getting it transferred in his own name as desired under the governing Rules. Further, the checking of the Electric Meter by the J.E. of the department and finding the same to be okay and the impugned Bill drawn only for the consumption of energy etc. has also been duly confirmed. Lastly, it has been stated that the electric energy has been utilized by the complainant hence he has been liable to pay the same and as such the present complaint deserved dismissal with costs.
4. Both the parties have produced/filed their respective affidavits and other related documents in evidence to support their pleadings/objections on record and the learned counsels for the litigants have duly put forth their respective arguments. We have carefully considered and perused all the available material while adjudicating the present complaint.
5. We find that the complainant has been benefiting through the usage of the electric connection in the name of his father after his demise and thus being ‘beneficiary in interest’ is entitled to file the present complaint under the Act; however, it shall be advisable that he gets the same transferred in his own name under the governing Rules of the OP corporation, as applicable to such instances. Moreover, the complainant has not been able to prove that the impugned Bill has been much exaggerated and in multiples of his previous routine usage by not producing any of his previous usage evidence for lesser consumption. Also, there has been no evidence of any such precedence of installation of ‘Sub-Meters’ to individual consumers as claimed by the complainant. Thus, the only outstanding grievance pertains to the item-wise details of the impugned Bill and that the OP service provider is determined to redress for the sake of ‘transparency of purpose’ of the cost/charges being paid for the goods/services received.
6. In the light of the all above, we partly dispose of the present complaint and thus direct the titled opposite parties to provide the item-wise details of the impugned Bill in writing to the complainant within 30 days of the receipt of the copy of these orders otherwise the complainant shall be at liberty to file its execution U/s 27 of the Act, for getting its compliance, duly executed.
7. 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)
February 19, 2015. Member. Member.
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