Varinder Pal Singh Saini, Member
1 The complainant has filed the present complaint by invoking the provisions of Section 34, 35 and 36 of the Consumer Protection Act against the opposite parties on the allegations that the colony namely Holy City, Tarn Taran, where the residential house of the complainant is located, is having about 34 Acres of area within the Local limits of the jurisdiction of Municipal council, Tarn Taran. There are about 35/40 residential houses, one school namely J.M.S. International School and some commercials shops in the said colony and further there are also some residential houses and shops are under construction. The complainant purchased 5 Marlas 3 Square Feet of vacant land from the owners of the said colony namely Gurvail Singh son of Dial Singh resident of near Laprosy Hospital, Tarn Taran for valuable consideration and after purchasing the same, the complainant constructed a residential house over the same and Municipal council Tarn Taran also passed a site plan/ Map regarding the construction of the said residential house of the complainant as per rules and regulations. The opposite parties issued a temporary electricity connection in the name of complainant qua the said residential house of the complainant and the complainant has been paying all the consumption charges to the opposite parties regularly and there is nothing due or outstanding against the complainant qua the said electricity connection. After completion of the construction work of the residential house of the complainant, the complainant applied for a permanent domestic electricity connection before the opposite parties and also deposited Rs. 2290/- on 10.5.2022 for the same and the opposite parties issued a receipt dated 10.5.2022 in the name of complainant. The complainant already submitted all requisite documents with the opposite parties for further proceedings and complied with all the requirements for the issuance of permanent connection in the name of the complainant for his newly constructed house. The employees of the opposite parties also visited the spot i.e. the residential house of the complainant for further proceedings and assured the complainant that the permanent domestic electricity connection will be issued/ installed within 5/7 days. Since, the complainant paid the required installation fee to the opposite parties to avail services of the opposite parties and as such he is beneficiary of the services provided by the opposite parties. Inspite of all this, the opposite parties have not issued and installed a permanent electricity connection in the name of complainant till date without assigning any reason and without any fault on the part of the complainant. The complainant has already applied for a domestic electricity connection before the opposite parties in the month of May 2022. The opposite parties were legally bound to issue/ installed permanent electricity connection within the period of one month after the receipt of the application as per the provisions of Electricity Act. A written representation/ application dated 23.6.2022 was also moved before the opposite party No. 1 by the complainant whereby the opposite party No. 1 was again requested to issue/ install a permanent domestic electricity connection in the name of complainant but opposite parties have failed to do needful as required till date. The opposite parties have already issued and installed the electricity connections in respect of the other houses/ school situated in the said Holy City Colony without any objection. The Holy City is Puda approved colony and comes under the Ward No. 22 of Municipal Council Tarn Taran. The complainant constructed his residential house in the said colony by obtaining required permission from the Municipal Council, Tarn Taran. As per prevalent rules and regulations, the corporation is duty bound to provide the electricity connection to each individual electricity consumer and there is no law/ rule prevalent due to which corporation can deny to provide electricity connection to a resident/person. The complainant has prayed that the following relieves may be granted in favour of complainant.
- The opposite parties may kindly be directed to issue and install a permanent domestic electricity connection in the name of the complainant in the house of the complainant situated at Holy City Tarn Taran by way of installing permanent domestic electricity meter in the said house of the complainant.
- Opposite parties further may kindly be directed to pay an amount of Rs. 1,00,000/- as compensation on account of mental and physical harassment caused to the complainant at the hands of the opposite party and Rs. 11,000/- as litigation expenses in the interest of justice.
- Any other relief to which the complainant is found entitled to that may also be granted in his favour under the law and equity.
Alongwith the complaint, the complainant has placed on record affidavit of complainant Ex. C-1, Self attested copy of receipt dated 10.5.2022 Ex. C-2, Self attested copy of site plan of House approved by Municipal Corporation Ex. C-3, Self attested copy of receipt of Temporary mete connection dated 13.7.2021 Ex. C-4, Self attested copy of Adhar Card Ex. C-5, Self attested copy of sale deed Ex. C-6, Self attested copy of application dated 23.6.2022 Ex. C-7.
2 Notice of complaint issued to the opposite parties and opposite parties appeared through counsel and filed written version by interalia pleadings that the complainant is estopped by his own act and conducts from filing the present complaint as the complainant has concealed the true and material facts from this Commission and has not come to the commission with clean hands as such the present complaint deserves to be dismissed on the ground of concealment of true and material facts from the Commission. The present complaint is not legally maintainable, as the same is filed by the complainant in connivance with the owners of alleged colony who are hand in glove with each other as they all are having ulterior motives to gain profits from the land, as they want to gain great profits from the whole land, which they allegedly want to sell through by carving plots, as the said colony is not regularized nor the alleged site plan produced and placed on record is approved from the Competent Authorities, as the same is prepared by a local draftsman who is neither qualified nor competent to prepare the same and above all not authorized by the competent Authorities in Punjab. Further the alleged letter for regularization is also not a valid one and is not issued by a Competent Authority and above all it is not a proper certificate. Further the alleged sale deed produced and is also not a valid one, as the alleged Number of the Plot shown in the alleged sale deed. Since the complainant had never applied for any electricity connection and is not covered by the definition of consumer and as such, the present complaint is not legally maintainable and is clear abuse of process of law and is liable to be dismissed in a summary manner In the present complaint material and important questions of facts and law are involved which cannot be decided in a summary manner and can only be decided after recording of evidence and cross examination of witnesses of both the parties and which can only be decided by a civil court of competent jurisdiction, the present complaint is liable to be dismissed on this ground alone. The opposite parties issued letter Holy City Gardens, Tarn Taran/RID-1306 and as per this letter it is directed to the complainant that as per load sheet and electrical layout diagram approved by the PSPCL the total load of the project shall be 1056 KW/1173 KVA which will be fed through 2 no.500 KVA, 1 no. 300 KVA and in no. 200 KVA distribution transformers (Total 1500 KVA) which is still pending till today and required obligation are not fulfilled by the complainant till today as only 1 transformer has been installed as against the norms as prescribed, the colonizer had not initiated any proceedings. The opposite party has issued various letters i.e. letter memo No.1395 dated 31.12.2020, letter memo no.379 dated 06.04.2021, letter memo no.458 dated 06.05.2021, letter memo no.460 dated 06.05.2021, letter memo no.461 dated 06.05.2021, letter memo no.255 dated 13.04.2022, letter memo no.622 dated 16.06.2022, letter memo no.624 dated 16.06.2022, letter memo no.640 dated 17.06.2022, letter memo no.874 dated 01.07.2022, letter memo no.911 dated 11.07.2022, letter memo no.155 dated 16.03.2022, letter Holy City Gardens, Tarn Taran/RID-1306. The colonizer who had developed the colony was supposed to submit the complete layout plan of the electrical network proposed to be erected in the colony and other documents prescribed by the licensee along with the processing fee as per schedule of general charges and obtain the preliminary NOC from the licensee i.e. PSPCL. The NOC shall be issued by the licensee within 45 days of receipt of the proposal complete in all respects along with requisite documents. In case the developer/builder/society/owners/association of residents/occupiers withdraw his request or fails to comply with the conditions within the stipulated time, the processing fees shall be forfeited as provided in clause 6.7. The colonizer and complainant are hand in glove with each other as they are misusing the Power/Energy by un-authorized way a temporary connection which was under way for construction purpose. Firstly, on the ground that till the date of filing of the present complaint by the complainant, he had never applied for release of any electricity connection as per rules detailed in clause 5.1 of electricity Supply code 2014 which clearly provides that the proceedings for release of connection are to be undertaken on receipt of an application in the application agreement (A and A) form prescribed by the distribution licensee of this purpose. The present complaint may be dismissed with heavy cost keeping in view the above Preliminary objections, with heavy cost and denied the other contents of complaint and prayed for dismissal of the same. Alongwith the written version, the opposite parties have placed on record Self attested affidavit of SDO PSPCL, Sub Urban Sub Division, Tarn Taran Ex-OP-R1, letter memo no.1395 dated 31.12.2020 Ex-OP-R2, letter memo no.379 dated 06.04.2021 Ex-OP-R3, letter memo no.458 dated 06.05.2021 Ex-OP-R4, letter memo no.460 dated 06.05.2021 Ex-OP-R5, letter memo no.461 dated 06.05.2021 Ex-OP-R6, letter memo no.255 dated 13.04.2022 Ex-OP-R7, letter memo no.622 dated 16.06.2022 Ex-OP-R8, letter memo no.624 dated 16.06.2022 is Ex-OP-R9, letter memo no.640 dated 17.06.2022 Ex-OP-R10, letter memo no.874 dated 01.07.2022 Ex-OP-R11, letter memo no.911 dated 11.07.2022 Ex-OP-R12, letter memo no.155 dated 16.03.2022 Ex-OP-R13, letter Holy City Gardens, Tarn Taran/RID-1306 Ex-OP-R14, Copy of order dated 21.07.2022 of the State Consumer Redressal Commission Punjab Chandigarh is Ex-OP-R15.
3 The complainant has filed rejoinder to the written version filed by the opposite parties and denied all the pleas taken in the written version and reiterated the stand as taken in the complaint. Alongwith the rejoinder, the complainant has placed on record attested copy of R.T.I information Ex. C-8.
4 We have heard the Ld. counsel for the parties and have carefully gone through the record
5 In the present case dispute is that the complainant has purchased a plot in the year 2021 in Holy City Garden Tarn Taran vide Ex. C-6 and later on he constructed his residential house and the opposite parties have not issued him permanent Domestic Electricity connection. The developer of the said colony has taken NOC from PSPCL regarding development of LD system in the said colony. He has installed incomplete LD system and PSPCL is denying the connection on the same basis. NOC has been obtained by the developer from PSPCL in the year 2015 vide Ex. OP-R14. As per NOC
“Estimated expenditure for layout of the electric LD system of the project is approved for 43,79,845/- subject to change as per rate prevailing at the time of execution of work. This amount shall have to secured from the developer by Director Urban Local Bodies Amritsar and in case of default of the developer it shall have to be issued to PSPCL for execution of the work of LD system and release of connection to the consumers. The funds shall be placed at the disposal of PSPCL by the office of Director Local Bodies within 15 days of the default on the part of developer having been notified / intimated to your office by SE operation, so that the residents / owners of the plots (the prospective consumers of PSPCL) are not denied electric connections for want of development of LD system. The above cost estimate is purely on tentative basis which shall be subject to actual sanction of estimate (recoverable amount) at the time of execution of work as per clause 9.3.6 of Supply Code-2014.
As per this condition, it was the bounded duty of the opposite parties to get installed LD system from the developer or in case of default to install LD system its own by getting money from the office of Director Local Bodies Amritsar. As per their own letter i.e. ex. OPR-14 the opposite parties have failed to install complete LD system through developer or in default by themselves in the colony. More than 7 years have been elapsed but till date, PSPCL have been failed to lay the LD system and in this way consumer suffered a lot for long period without any fault, it amounts deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties. This Commission is of the considered view that Consumer Protection Act is a benevolent legislation and based upon the principle to protect the rights of the consumers and this Commission have to look into the fact that where there is deficiency in service on the part of the party concerned, right of the consumer may be safe guarded and concept of entire Act is based on the principle of natural justice and equity. This Commission also relied upon the law laid down referred in the following judgments : Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in case Punjab State Electricity Board Ltd. Versus Zora Singh and others Civil Appeal No.4910-4981 of 2005 has held that electricity Board is a State within meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution. The Board is expected to discharge its statutory functions within a reasonable time. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India further held that A ‘State’ within Article 12 of the Constitution of India must act fairly and bonafide it cannot act for a purpose which is wholly unauthorized and not germane for achieving the object it professes whether under a statute or otherwise. Similarly, Hon’ble Madras High Court in case titled as T.M.Prakash and others Versus District Collector, Tiruvannamalai District, Tiruvannamalai and anothers 2013 (4 ) CLT 829 held that accessibility to electricity was considered as right to life – Lack of electricity denies person to equal opportunities in education, suitable employment, health, sanitation and other socioeconomic right – hence amounts to violation of humanrights – Constitution mandates socio economic justice – Difficulties of women, children and aged persons living in huts without electricity was to be visualized – Hence mandatory on licence to provide electricity supply to occupants of promoboke lands on production of ‘No Objection Certificate. Petitioners entitled to seek electricity service connection – Respondents hence directed to provide electricity supply to petitioners.
6 This Commission also relied upon the law laid down by the Hon’ble National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi in case Punjab State Power Corporation Limited Versus Gurpiar Singh 2012(3) CPJ 217 and another judgment titled as Asstt.Engineer Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam and others Versus Bodan Ram in Revision Petition No.3008 of 2003 where similar view is taken by the Hon’ble State Commission and law cited above. So far as an order passed by the Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court in case titled as M/s.Impact Projects Private Limited and anothers Versus Punjab State Power Corporation Limited and other CWP 23009 of 2019 is concerned, the Hon’ble Punjab &Haryana High Court has also protected the right of the consumer and held that right of the consumer may not suffer due to negligence, cleverness and other acts of the colonizer. The relevant abstract of the judgement is reproduced particularly para 4.9 of the order as under :
“4.9 This matter can be examined from yet another perspective. If in the absence of complete infrastructure, the distribution licensee is forced to take over the incomplete local electricity distribution network, the consumer are likely to suffer.”
7 Keeping in view the law as above, this Commission is of the view that the right of the consumer should not suffer in any manner whatsoever. Since the electricity is dire need of life of anyone individual, hence, same is protected by the legislature by enforcing the present Act i.e. Consumer Protection Act.
8 The opposite parties have taken objection that the complainant is not a consumer and the present complaint is not maintainable. But the opposite parties/PSPCL have issued temporary connection to the complainant and the complainant is using the electricity since a long time and is paying the electricity charges to the opposite parties/ PSPCL and the complainant has also applied for permanent domestic connection, therefore he falls under the definition of prospective consumer.
9 In view of above discussion we partly allow the complaint and the opposite parties are directed to release permanent electricity connection (D.S) to the complainant after taking the requisite charges i.e. security (non-energy charges) etc. if not deposited by the complainant within two months from the date of receipt of copy of this order. However, opposite parties are at liberty to take appropriate action against the colonizer as per law, if the developer/colonizer is not complying with the conditions as agreed between the parties. The complainant has been harassed by the opposite parties for a long time, the complainant is also entitled to 10,000/- as compensation on account of harassment and Rs. 7,500/- as litigation expenses. Opposite Parties No. 1 to 3 are directed to comply with the order, failing which the complainant is entitled to interest @ 9% per annum, on the awarded amount, from the date of complaint till its realization. Case could not be disposed of within the stipulated period due to heavy pendency of the cases in this Commission and due to COVID-19. Copies of the order be furnished to the parties as per rules. File is ordered to be consigned to the record room.
Announced in Open Commission.
11.01.2023
