Complainant Subhash Chander has filed the present complaint against the opposite parties U/S 12 of the Consumer Protection Act (for short, C.P.Act.) seeking necessary directions to the opposite parties to receive the cheque and to restore his electric connection at the earliest. Opposite parties be further directed to pay Rs.50,000/- as deficiency in service and litigation expenses and for causing harassment and further may also be granted any other relief which he may be found entitled to.

2.        The case of the complainant in brief is that he is having domestic electric connection bearing No.G31EF920956K. The meter is installed in his premises and he has been paying its consumption bills regularly to the opposite parties and as such he is consumer of the opposite parties. He received the consumption bill on 4.1.2015 for the period w.e.f. 05.11.2014 to 04.01.2015 for Rs.17,006/- and he approached the office of the opposite parties to deposit the bill but he was not allowed to deposit the same and later on his meter was permanently disconnected without any cause and reason. Thereafter, he sent cheque amounting to Rs.17,006/- bearing No.009608 of AXIS Bank, Branch Dhariwal, but the opposite parties have refused to accept the same and clearly told him that the cheque will not be accepted and the opposite parties have illegally disconnected his electric connection. He requested the opposite parties to receive the cheque and to restore the electric connection as it has been more than one year that his electric meter has been disconnected by the opposite parties and it is very difficult for him and his family to live without the basic necessity of life i.e. Electricity. This amounts to deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties. Hence this complaint.

3.       Notice of the complaint was issued to the opposite parties who appeared through their counsel and filed their written reply by taking the preliminary objections that the complainant is defaulter of PSPCL and is still in arrears of an amount of Rs.7819/- as electricity bills regarding connection in question alongwith arrears of another MS connection (Industrial connection for Rice Sheller) which was in the name of the complainant vide Account No.M-15 and an amount of Rs.23,05,349/- including interest @ 12% p.a. calculated till 30.4.2016 and under instruction No.179 of Sales Manual the PSPCL is entitled to recover arrears due from the complainant. The complainant cannot claim for connection or restoration of connection in question. Hence complaint is not maintainable and this Forum has no jurisdiction to decide the matter in question because the matter in question regarding arrears of electricity bill of one of the account of connection i.e. MS connection has already been decided by the Civil Court, hence  matter being intrinsic and need very lengthy evidence. On merits,  it was submitted that complainant is defaulter qua his another MS connection (Industrial Connection for Rice Mill) which was in his name vide Account No.M-15 and qua said connection the complainant was defaulter of due amount of Rs.6,96,174/- for which a recovery suit was filed in Civil Court at Gurdaspur which was decreed with interest @ 12% P.A. by the Court of Sh.G.S.Dhillon, Addl. Civil Judge (Sr.Dn.), Gurdaspur on 15.10.2007 and appeal filed by the complainant was also dismissed by the Court of Sh.Mohamad Gulzar, Addl. District Judge Gurdaspur vide his judgment dated 9.5.2012 but the complainant has not paid the said due amount as per decree also. And the said amount is still recoverable as arrears of bills. It has further submitted that as per Electricity Supply Instructions Manual, Rule No.8 ‘b’ & ‘c’ no connection or extension of load can be allowed to such person or his subsidiaries where defaulting amount is out standing, hence complainant is not entitled to restoration of his alleged connection unless and until he pays his all arrears of due amount. All other averments made in the complaint has been vehemently denied and lastly prayed that the complaint may be dismissed with costs.

4.      Complainant tendered into evidence his own affidavit Ex.C1, alongwith other documents Ex.C2 to Ex.C4 and closed the evidence. 

5.       Counsel for the opposite parties tendered into evidence affidavit of Sukhdev Raj, S.D.O. Ex.OPW1/A, alongwith other documents Ex.OP1 to Ex.OP-6 and closed the evidence.

6.        We have duly heard the learned counsels for both the sides in the back drop of the legally applicable merit of the supporting evidence/document(s) as produced by the litigating parties in order to statutorily resolve the inter-se dispute (under the C P Act’ 1986) that somehow prompted the present complaint. We find that the complainant had been the holder of domestic electric connection # G31EF920956K and thus ‘consumer’ of the OP Corporation Service Providers. However, the complainant received the routine consumption Bill dated 04.01.2015 for Rs.17,006/- the receipt of payment of which was somehow allegedly refused to be accepted/received by the OP Corporation who instead disconnected the ‘Supply’, prompting the present complaint.

7.       The OP Corporation has in turn pleaded that the complainant’s Bill Payment Cheque for Rs.17,006/- was duly accepted vide Receipt # 26 of 19.02.2016 but in the meantime the Bill had enhanced to Rs.24,825/- and thus an amount of Rs.7,819/- had been still unpaid. The OP Corporation has further pleaded that the present complainant had been ‘defaulter’ in his other MS Connection (Industrial Supply to Rice Sheller) A/c and the department has since procured a court’s decree against him for the ‘defaulted’ amount that has presently amassed to Rs.2,305,349/- with application of awarded interest etc and the executed disconnection of domestic-supply and its non-restoration are legal and fully justified by virtue of Rules 8 (b) & 8 (c) of the Electricity Supply Instructions Manual; unless all the arrears are paid/deposited in full. 

8.       We are not convinced with the intrinsic ‘logic’ of the OP’s above pleadings since the ‘domestic’ electricity supply has been an issue of ‘necessity’ in life and a ‘consumer’ cannot be justifiably denied of the same on account of ‘default’ in fulfillment of one ‘commercial’ contract as pertained to business commitments such as: industrial ‘power-connection’ to run Rice-Sheller etc. Moreover, there are other individual beneficiaries to the ‘domestic- supply’ here, who cannot be ‘inhumanly’ penalized for a commercial contract default by one other member of the family and all the more when legal remedy by way of execution of court’s decree is available to the OP Corporation. And, it shall certainly infringe the ‘consumer’ rights of the present complainant and that rakes up the OP service providers to an adverse statutory award under the applicable Act. Moreover, the OP Corporation’s own cited Rules 8(b) & 8(c) Ex.OP1 have been distortedly misinterpreted as these pertain to ‘New-Connection/Extension in Load’ for giving feasibility clearance and not to the present  existing accounts and/ or to re-connections and restoration of inadvertently disconnected power supply etc as in the present case under adjudication. Also, by the time it has been a settled law that all such determining ‘terms & conditions/rules & regulations’ need be interpreted in a consumer friendly way i.e., pro-consumer fashion to the benefit of the ‘under-the-dog’ complainant.         

9.       In the light of the all above, we are of the considered opinion that the present complaint shall be best disposed of by directing the present complainant to pay/deposit the balance outstanding of Rs.7819/- in his Domestic Supply A/c # G31EF920956K within ‘7’ days of receipt of copy of orders and the OP service providers shall ‘restore’ his above DS electricity supply within ‘2’ days of the receipt of Rs.7,819/- from the complainant besides to pay him Rs.3,000/- as cost and compensation within 30 days of the receipt of copy of these orders otherwise the awarded amount shall attract interest @ 9% PA from the date of orders till actual payment.

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

                   (Naveen Puri)

                                                                                      President   

Announced:                                                             (Jagdeep Kaur)

August,12 2016                                                               Member

*MK*