Punjab

Faridkot

CC/17/371

Amanpreet Singh - Complainant(s)

Versus

PSPCL - Opp.Party(s)

Ranjit Singh

07 Jan 2019

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT

 

                                                    Complaint No :        371

Date of Institution :  20.11.2017

Date of Decision :      7.01.2019

Amanpreet Singh aged about 45 years s/o Ajaib Singh, s/o Harnam Singh r/o Village Bargari Tehsil Jaitu, District Faridkot.

                                                              ......Complainant

Versus

1. Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd., through its Chairman cum Managing Director, The Mall, Patiala.
2. Assistant Executive Engineer DS, Sub Division, Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. Bargari.    

.........Ops

Complaint under Section 12 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

 

Quorum:  Sh. Ajit Aggarwal, President,

                Smt Param Pal Kaur, Member.

 

Present: Sh Ranjit Singh, Ld Counsel for complainant,

    Sh Rajneesh Garg, Ld Counsel for OPs.

 (Ajit Aggarwal, President)

                             Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd etc/Ops seeking directions to Ops to set aside the demand of Rs.55,890/-raised vide bill dt 30.10.2017 and to pay Rs.30,000/- as compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by complainant besides Rs.10,000/- as litigation expenses to complainant.

2                        Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that electric connection bearing a/c no. BS-26/0022 running in the name of Ajaib Singh son of Harnam Singh/father of complainant who expired five years ago, is being used by complainant and he has been paying all bills regularly as and when issued. OPs issued a bill dt 30.10.2017 for Rs.55,890/-, in which they raised the demand of Rs.54,142/-on account of sundry charges. It is submitted that complainant has been paying all the bills regularly and bill in question is excessive and even no detail or prior notice was ever issued to him for this amount of sundry charges. On receipt of said bill, complainant immediately approached OPs and made request to withdraw the same, but Ops did not pay any heed to his request, rather threatened him of disconnection of his connection if he fails to pay the amount charged in bill in time. The demand raised by OPs is totally wrong and illegal and this act of OPs in raising huge demand is illegal and unlawful and refusal by OPs to withdraw the said amount amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of Ops and this act and conduct of Ops has caused great inconvenience, harassment and mental tension to him. He has prayed for accepting the complaint alongwith compensation and litigation expenses besides main relief. Hence, this complaint.

3                    Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dt 21.11.2017, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite parties.

4                       On receipt of the notice, the opposite parties filed written statement taking preliminary objections that matter involved in present complaint has already been decided by the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh and this Forum has no jurisdiction to hear and try the present complaint. However, on merits ld counsel for OPs have denied all the allegations levelled by complainant being wrong and incorrect and asserted that on 4.07.2010, checking was done by Er. Ranjit Singh alongwith staff on 4.07.2010 and during checking it was found that complainant was committing theft of electricity by directly using the electricity without sanction or approval of answering OPs. For committing theft, complainant put the cable for running 7.5BHP motor and motor was found running by putting the wire approximately 80 Karam in length. This motor was running from the motor which was being running in the name of Ajaib Singh. complete sketch was prepared and notice no.749 dated 6.07.2010 was issued to complainant for Rs.77,347/- on account of theft of electricity. Complainant challenged the said notice and filed a civil suit for Declaration and Permanent Injunction on 9.02.2011, which was dismissed by the court of Ld ACJ (SD), Faridkot. Thereafter, complainant filed a suit in the court of ld ADJ, Faridkot , but the same was also dismissed by the learned court. After that complainant filed a Civil Writ Petition bearing no.3432 in Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court, which too was decided on 21.04.2016. ld counsel for OPs averred that complainant has not come to the Forum with clean hands and has concealed the material facts from this Forum. Notices No. 749, 2791, 322, 706 and 819 dated 6.07.2010; 7.09.2016; 1.03.2017; 25.05.2017 and 8.06.2017 respectively were issued to complainant to deposit the amount of Rs.77,347/-for committing theft of electricity, but complainant deposited only 23,205/- with them and remaining amount of Rs.54,142/-is still due and recoverable from him and this amount is charged in bill in question as per rules and regulations of Ops. It is further averred that demand raised by Ops is quite legal and they have every right to recover the same. It is averred that there is no deficiency in service on the part of answering OPs. All the other allegations and the allegation with regard to relief sought too were refuted with a prayer that complaint deserves to be dismissed with costs.

5                          Parties were given proper opportunities to produce evidence to prove their respective case. Counsel for complainant tendered in evidence affidavits of complainant Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 and ExC-3 and closed the same.

6                               In order to rebut the evidence of the complainant, the opposite parties tendered in evidence affidavit of Jodhbir Singh AEE as Ex OP-1 and documents Ex OP-2 to OP-5 and closed the evidence.

7                 The ld Counsel for complainant argued that electric connection in the name of Ajaib Singh son of Harnam Singh/father of complainant, is being used by complainant and he has been paying all bills regularly as and when issued. OPs issued a bill dt 30.10.2017 for Rs.55,890/-, in which they raised the demand of Rs.54,142/-on account of sundry charges. It is submitted that bill in question is excessive and even no detail or prior notice was ever issued to him for this amount of sundry charges. On receipt of same, complainant immediately approached OPs and requested to withdraw the same, but Ops did not hear him, rather threatened to disconnect his connection if he fails to pay the bill in time. The demand raised by OPs is illegal and this act of OPs in raising huge demand of Rs.55,890/-is illegal and unlawful and it has caused great harassment and mental tension to complainant. He has prayed for accepting the present complaint alongwith compensation and litigation expenses besides the main relief. He has stressed on documents Ex C-1 to 3.

 8                             To controvert the arguments of complainant, ld counsel for OPs argued ld counsel for Ops argued before the Forum that present complaint involves theft matter and matter involved in present complaint has already been decided by the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh and this Forum has no jurisdiction to hear and try the present complaint. OPs have denied all the allegations levelled by complainant being incorrect and averred that on 4.07.2010, checking was done by Er. Ranjit Singh alongwith staff and during checking complainant was found committing theft of electricity by directly using the electricity without sanction or approval of OPs. For committing theft, complainant put the cable for running 7.5BHP motor and motor was found running by putting the wire approximately 80 Karam in length. This motor was running from the motor which was being running in the name of Ajaib Singh. Complete sketch was prepared and notice dated 6.07.2010 was issued to him for Rs.77,347/- on account of theft of electricity. Complainant challenged the said notice and filed a civil suit for Declaration and Permanent Injunction on 9.02.2011, which was dismissed by the court of Ld ACJ (SD), Faridkot. Thereafter, he filed a suit in the court of ld ADJ, Faridkot , but the same was also dismissed by the learned court. After that complainant filed a Civil Writ Petition bearing no.3432 in Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court, which too was decided on 21.04.2016. Complainant has not come to the Forum with clean hands and has concealed the material facts from this Forum. Notices dated 6.07.2010; 7.09.2016; 1.03.2017; 25.05.2017 and 8.06.2017 were issued to complainant to deposit the amount of Rs.77,347/-for committing theft of electricity, but he deposited only 23,205/- with them and remaining amount of Rs.54,142/-is still due and recoverable from him and this amount is charged in bill in question as per rules and regulations of Ops. Demand raised by Ops is quite legal and they have every right to recover the same. There is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs and prayed for dismissal of complaint with them. Ld counsel for Ops stressed on documents Ex OP-1 to 5.

9                                   We have heard the ld counsel for complainant as well OPs and have carefully perused the record available on file.

10                             The case of the complainant is that he has been using electric connection running in the name of his grandfather and has been regularly paying all the bills as and when issued and nothing is due towards him. Grievance of complainant is that the OPs issued him a bill dt 30.10.2017 in which they raised demand of Rs.55,890/-without giving any prior notice or detail thereof. Requests made by complainant to withdraw the same bore no fruit. On the other hand, OPs brought before the Forum that amount raised vide bill dated 30.10.2017 is not raised on account of sundry charges, rather present case involves theft of electricity. OPs cleared the fact that earlier complainant filed civil suits and even reached Hon’ble High Court for this matter and his cases were dismissed by ld courts. Ex OP-2 is the copy of judgment dated 10.07.2013 issued by the court of Ld Addl. Civil Judge (Sr Division), Faridkot wherein ld court dismissed the Civil Suit filed by complainant for Permanent Injunction. Ex OP-3 copy the copy of decree sheet dated 10.07.2013 also reiterates the order date d10.07.2013. Ex C-4 copy of judgment dated 1.11.2013 clearly states the fact that Suit filed by complainant for Declaration was dismissed by the Court of Ld Addl. District Judge, Faridkot. It is observed that complainant has availed all the remedies permissible under various courts. Complainant filed civil suit for Permanent Injunction before Ld ACJM (Sr Division), the same was dismissed. Complainant further filed suit before ld ADJ, which was also dismissed. Thereafter, Complainant filed Civil Writ Petition which was also dismissed by Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh. Notices were issued to complainant to deposit the amount of Rs.77,347/- in compliance of which complainant deposited only Rs.23,205/- and remaining amount of Rs.54,142/- is still due towards him. Ops are fully entitled to recover the same and there is no illegality or deficiency on the part of Ops.

11                                             In the light of above discussion and evidence and documents and case law produced by the parties, we are fully convinced with arguments advanced by ld counsel for OPs and are of considered opinion that OPs have sufficient and cogent evidence to prove their case. Complaint involves theft of energy and therefore, it is hereby dismissed being devoid of any merits. However, in peculiar circumstances of the case, there are no orders as to costs. Copy of order be supplied to parties free of cost as per law. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in Open Forum

Dated : 7.01.2019

                                          Member                       President                                                      (Param Pal Kaur) (Ajit Aggarwal)