Punjab

Faridkot

CC/17/363

Jeetender Kumar - Complainant(s)

Versus

PSPCL - Opp.Party(s)

Jatinder Marria

01 Apr 2019

ORDER

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT

 

                                                    C. C. No :             363 of 2017

Date of Institution :       8.11.2017

Date of Decision :         1.04.2019

Jeetender Kumar aged about 39 years s/o Ved Parkash r/o Airport Road, Opp. Central School, Faridkot.

                                           ...Complainant

Versus

1. Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd, The Mall, Patiala, through its Chairman.
2. Assistant Executive Engineer, Op City Sub Division, Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd., Faridkot.            

  .........Ops

Complaint under Section 12 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

 

Quorum: Sh. Ajit Aggarwal, President,

               Smt. Param Pal Kaur, Member.

 

Present:  Sh Jatinder Marria, Ld Counsel for Complainant,

    Sh Dildeep Singh, Ld Counsel for OPs.

 

ORDER

 (Ajit Aggarwal, President)

                                           Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against Punjab

cc no.- 363 of 2017

State Power Corporation Ltd etc/Ops seeking directions to Ops to correct the bill, to charge the bill as per consumption and to pay  Rs. One lac as compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by complainant besides litigation expenses of Rs.15,000/- to complainant.

2                                           Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that complainant has electric connection bearing account no. 3000437979 and 1 KW load is sanctioned for his electric meter. Since installation, he has been paying all the bills regularly and nothing is due towards him on account of consumption charges. It is submitted that complainant received a bill dated 5.05.2017 for Rs.8,17,970/-for 469 units. Complainant approached OPs and requested them to correct the bill and then, OPs got deposited Rs.2,790/-from complainant. thereafter, he did not receive any bill in July, but received bill dated 2.09.2017 for Rs.35,290/-against 370 units. Complainant again approached OPs and requested them to correct the said bills and then OPs corrected the bill and again got deposited actual consumption charges. Complainant again received bill dated 4.11.2017 for 441 units for Rs.45,570/-. Complainant again approached OPs and requested them to rectify the bill and charge only consumption charges, but despite repeated requests, OPs did not pay any heed to his requests and kept lingering on the matter on one pretext or the other and then, finally refused to correct the bill and threatened him to disconnect his connection, if he fails to pay all amount in time. All this amounts to deficiency in service on the part of OPs and this act and conduct of Ops has caused great inconvenience, harassment

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and mental tension to him for which he has prayed for seeking directions to Ops to withdraw the bill in question and prayed for compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by him besides litigation expenses. Hence, this complaint.

3                                       Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dt 14.11.2017, 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 wherein took preliminary objections that all the allegations levelled by complainant are wrong and incorrect and asserted that complainant has not come to the Forum with clean hands and he has no locus standi to file the present complaint. Bills are generated as per consumption and there is no discrepancy in bill amount. However, on merits OPs have denied all the allegations of complainant being false and frivolous, but admitted before the Forum that bill dated 5.05.2017 for Rs.8,17,970/- was issued by them. As per OPs, bill dated 5.05.2017 was issued due to some technical error. Bill recorded wrong reading because of I- Code, in which meter jumps and completes one cycle and starts the next one. It occurred due to technical error. Bills for the period from 4.01.2015 to 28.08.2017 that is for 966 days were wrongly issued, these bills were corrected and wrong bills were deleted from the account of complainant. lump sum amount was received from complainant and it was duly credited in his account. Actual amount of Rs.33,050/-was due

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towards complainant and this amount was charged in bill dated 6.01.2018.  Rs.33,050/- are charged after calculating all the arrears and dues and  after deducting all the payments made by complainant. It is further averred that bill is issued as per rules and regulations and amount in question is charged after adopting the due process and procedure and complainant is liable to pay the same. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of answering OPs. All the other allegations and 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 to 20 and closed the same.

6                                              In order to rebut the evidence of the complainant, the opposite parties tendered in evidence affidavit of Gaurav Kakkar as Ex OP-1 and documents Ex OP-2 to Ex OP-4 and then, closed the evidence.

7                                                      We have heard the ld counsel for complainant as well as Ops and have carefully gone through the evidence produced on file.

8                                                     From the careful perusal of documents and evidence placed on record and after going through the arguments

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advanced by respective parties, it is observed that case of the complainant is that complainant is having  electric connection issued by Ops and is the consumer of OPs and he has been paying all the bills regularly as and when received and nothing is due towards him. It is submitted that complainant received a bill dated 5.05.2017 for Rs.8,17,970/-for 469 units, which was very excessive and on request of complainant, OPs corrected the same and got deposited Rs.2,790/-from him. OPs again sent bill dated 2.09.2017 for Rs.35,290/-against 370 units and on receiving the bill, complainant again approached OPs and requested them to correct the said bill. OPs corrected the bill and again got deposited actual consumption charges. Complainant further received inflated bill dated 4.11.2017 for 441 units for Rs.45,570/-, but despite repeated requests, OPs did not correct the same and refused to correct the bill and even threatened him to disconnect his connection, if he fails to pay all amount in time. All this caused great inconvenience, harassment and mental agony and tension to him for which he has prayed for seeking directions to Ops to withdraw the bill in question and prayed for compensation for harassment litigation expenses besides main relief. He has prayed for documents Ex C-1 to Ex C-20. In reply, OPs stressed mainly on the point that bill dated 5.05.2017 was issued due to some technical error. Meter recorded wrong reading because of I- Code, in which meter jumps and completes one cycle and starts the next one. Bills for the period from 4.01.2015 to 28.08.2017 that is for 966 days were wrongly issued due to some technical error and these bills were

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corrected and wrong bills were deleted from the account of complainant. Amount paid by complainant was duly credited in his account. Actual amount of Rs.33,050/-was due towards complainant and this amount was charged in bill dated 6.01.2018. Rs.33,050/- are charged after calculating all the arrears, dues and on deducting all the payments made by complainant. Bill is issued as per rules and regulations and complainant is liable to pay the same. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of answering OPs.

9                                                 The grievance of complainant is that he received inflated bills dated 5.05.2017,  2.09.2017 and 4.11.2017 for Rs.8,17,970/-, Rs.35,290/- and for Rs.45,570/- against 469, 370 and 441 units respectively. Main contention of complainant is that OPs corrected the bills dated 5.05.2017 and 2.09.2017 and got deposited actual consumption charges from him, but they refused to correct the bill dated 4.11.2017 and forced him to deposit the amount charged in said bill. It is submitted that amount of Rs.45,570/-is very excessive for consumption of 441 units. On the other hand OPs themselves admitted in written reply that due to some technical error in their system wrong reading was recorded and inflated bills were issued by them. OPs averred that amount in question is charged on the basis of amount due towards complainant and they have duly entered the amount received from him. There is no discrepancy in amount charged and complainant is liable to pay the same.

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10                                  To prove his case, complainant has brought before the Forum documents Ex C-2 to Ex C-7 which are copies of bills that clearly show that Ops charged huge amount for low consumption and they got deposited Rs.2730/-against bill dated 5.05.2017 for Rs.8,17,970/- for 469 units. Ex C-3 is bill dated 4.11.2017 for Rs.45,570/-  for 441 units which is very excessive and no reason is made out for such an inflated bill issued by OPs . Document Ex C-8 is copy of calculation sheet which shows the rate of power consumption by meter of complainant. It clears that consumption rate is 189 units, 961 units, 469 units and consumption never exceeded to the point that costs such an inflated bill. It also shows that OPs got deposited current consumption charges from complainant from 3.01.2017 to 13.09.2017. Ex C-15 is letter written by complainant to Ops, wherein he made requests to Ops to correct the bills and charge the amount as per consumption. Through his affidavit Ex C-1, he has reiterated his grievance. On the contrary, Ops did not produce any document to prove that they charged the amount in question as per rules. They failed to bring on record any plausible reason for charging such a huge and excessive amount of Rs.45,570 against 441 units.

11                                      It is observed that complainant has produced sufficient and cogent evidence to prove his pleadings. Documents placed on record by complainant are authentic and are beyond any doubt. Moreover, OPs have themselves admitted in their written statement that bills for the period from 4.01.2015 to 28.08.2017 were issued by them

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due to some technical error. It is also admitted that they got deposited actual charges from complainant but they failed to justify the reason that how they calculated the arrear of Rs.33,050/-. Charging the huge and excessive amount in bill as arrear without any justification amounts to deficiency in service on their part.                     

12                               In the light of above discussion and keeping in view documents produced by parties, this Forum is of considered opinion that there is deficiency in service on the part of OPs. Hence,  complaint filed by the complainant is hereby accepted and OPs are directed to withdraw the bill dated 4.11.2017 for Rs.45,570/- and are ordered to issue correct bill as per actual consumption of complainant and to quash the demand on account of alleged arrears and adjustments. Ops are further directed to adjust the amount of Rs.15,000/-, if  deposited by complainant in compliance of order dated 14.11.2017 passed by this Forum in subsequent bills. Compliance of this  order be made within one month of receipt of the copy of the order, failing which complainant shall be entitled to proceed under Section 25 and 27 of the Consumer Protection Act. Copy of order be supplied to parties free of cost. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in Open Forum

Dated : 1.04.2019

 

                              (Param Pal Kaur)                     (Ajit Aggarwal)

   Member                                  President