BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES

REDRESSAL FORUM, JALANDHAR.

Complaint No.258 of 2015

Date of Instt. 12.06.2015

Date of Decision: 06.03.2018

1. Shinder Pal Kaur aged 36 years wife of Dilbag Singh son of Karam Singh.

2. Dilbag Singh aged 39 years son of Karam Singh son of Bhag Singh.

Both residents of House No.88 Village Udesian PS Adampur, Tehsil and District Jalandhar.

..........Complainants Versus

1. Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd, Patiala through Superintending Engineer P. S. P. C. L. Jalandhar.

2. SDO P. S. P. C. L., Adampur, Tehsil and District Jalandhar.

..….…Opposite Parties

Complaint Under the Consumer Protection Act.

Before: Sh. Karnail Singh (President)

Smt. Harvimal Dogra (Member)

Present: Sh. DS China, Adv Counsel for the Complainants.

Sh. Iqbaldeep Singh, Adv Counsel for the OP No.1 and 2.

Order

Karnail Singh (President)

1. This complaint is presented by the complainants, wherein stated that the complainants are residents of Village Udesian and are consumers of Electricity, vide account No.OJ 64 UP-270133-Y through the OPs. The electric connection stands in the name of Sh. Karam Singh, father of complainant No.2 and father-in-law of complainant No.1. Said Karam Singh is alive and has been residing with the complainants at the above address. As such, the complainants are consumers of the OPs.

2. The complainants have been blessed with one daughter Silony and two sons Yoes and Yoeal. The sons are aged about 4 years. On 10.05.2015 at about 06:00 PM, the family including Yoeal was present in their house and electric light was on. The family was watching TV Programs. There was installed a desert cooler, but the said desert cooler was not working. Incidentally, leg of Yoeal touched the desert cooler and instantly, Yoeal died at the spot. Then it transpired that the negative and positive points were in reverse gear. The positive line was connected with neutral line and the neutral line with the positive line of the electric connection, so that electricity directly passed to the body of desert cooler. It is submitted that the electric meter supplying electricity to the house of the complainant and of other 20-25 houses are installed in one box outside the house. Similar complaints were made by the neighbourer of the complainant. Complaint of the incident was made to the SDO, OP No.2 by Surinder Pal Ex.Member Panchayat of the village. Thereupon, an official of the OPs namely Avtar Singh Lineman and two others came to the site at 11 AM on 11.05.2015 and they corrected the neutral and positive lines in the meter, of the house of the complainant and of other houses also.

3. Yoeal was taken to Miglani Hospital Adampur on 10.05.2015, who referred Yoeal to Kidney Hospital and Life Line Medical Institutions PMF Trust, Cool Road, Jalandhar, where the child was examined on the same day i.e. on 10.05.2015. The said hospital reported that Yoeal had died due to electric shock about 45 minutes before the child was taken to the said Hospital. The said hospital has given a certificate dated 10.05.2015 as to the cause of the death of the child. It is submitted that the OPs are guilty of deficiency in service as described in clause (g) of Section 2(1) of the 'Consumer Protection Act'. They negligently changed the positive line with the neutral line and vice versa, so that the electricity directly passed to the body of desert cooler installed in the house of the complainant.

4. That Yoeal was intelligent child. On 8-09.05.2015, both Yoes and Yoeal were taken to Rainbow Public School, Sattowali, Adampur. However, the management of the school advised the complainants to come on the next day i.e. on 11.05.2015, but on 10.05.2015, the child Yoeal died as stated above. The brother of the deceased child namely Yoes was however admitted in the said school on 26.05.2015. The complainant belonged to the Scheduled Caste community for whom there is reservation in all the fields of life including education and service. Karam Singh, grand father of the deceased child retired from the Army as a Naik. For descendants of such ex-serviceman, there is a special reservation provided by the Govt. The deceased child could therefore attain a high and respectable position in the society. Age span in the family is quite high. The grand father of the deceased child is 75 years of age and is still alive. The great grandfather of the deceased child died at the age of 85 years. Thus, the deceased could reasonably live upto 75 years of age and his life span has been cut short due to the deficiency in service provided by the OPs. The incident was also reported in the press through Punjabi Jagran, Jalandhar dated 13.05.2015. The OPs are guilty of providing deficiency in service through faulty electric connection. The complainants have suffered a loss of Rs.20 Lacs due to the sudden and untimely death of Yoeal, caused at the hands of the OPs. The complainants are thus entitled to compensation of Rs.20 lacs and accordingly, this complaint filed with the prayer that the same may be accepted and compensation as stated above may be granted to the complainant.

5. Notice of the complaint was given to the OPs, who appeared through their counsel and filed written reply, whereby contested the complaint by taking preliminary objections that the complaint is not maintainable as has been filed against the OPs. It is further averred that the complaint is liable to be dismissed as the death has been occurred due to own negligence of the complainant and also on the part of the desert cooler company. The story of the complaint itself clearly shows that there is no negligence on the part of the OPs. The wires of the desert cooler were wrongly fixed in the board and the switch of the wires of the cooler. The OPs are not liable for this negligence act of the complainant. It is further averred that the complainants have mislead this Forum by giving wrong and immaterial facts and even no cause of action has arisen to the complainant to file the present complaint. On merits, the allegations as made in the complaint are categorically denied and further submitted that it is wrong and incorrect that positive line was connected with the neutral line and the neutral line with the positive line of electric connection and lastly prayed that the complaint of the complainant is without merits and the same may be dismissed.

6. In order to prove the case of the complainant, the complainant herself tendered into evidence her duly sworn affidavit Ex.CA alongwith some documents Ex.C-1 to Ex.C-9 and also produced on the file affidavit of the Joginder Dass as Ex.CB and affidavit of Dilbagh Singh as Ex.CC and affidavit of Karam Singh as Ex.CD and then in additional evidence tendered one affidavit Ex.C10 and closed the evidence.

7. In order to rebut the evidence of the complainant, OPs produced one affidavit of Sh. Ram Parshad, Assistant engineer (SDO) as EX.OPA/1 and affidavit of Amarjit singh, Asstt. Lineman as Ex.OPA/2 and affidavit of Surinder Pal, Lineman as Ex.OPA/3 and closed the evidence.

8. We bestowed our thoughtful consideration to the submissions made by the learned counsel for the respective parties and also gone through the case file very minutely.

9. The learned counsel for the complainants submitted that the father of the complainant No.2 and father-in-law of the complainant No.1, namely Karam Singh has an electricity connection account No.OJ 64 UP-270133-Y and as such, the complainants are beneficiary of Sh. Karam Singh and thus, they are consumers of the OP and further urged that on 10.05.2015, at about 06:00 PM, the family of the complainant including their sons namely Yoes and Yoeal aged about 4 years alongwith daughter Silony were watching TV program. One desert cooler was installed in the house of the complainant, the same was not working, but due to the fault of the OP, the negative and positive points were in reverse gear i.e. the positive line was connected with the neutral line and the neutral line with the positive line of the electric connection and thereby the electricity directly passed to the body of the desert cooler and unfortunately, the leg of the Yoeal touched with the desert cooler and instantly, Yoeal was died at the spot, this incident happened due to the negligence and deficiency in service on the part of the OP and thereafter, Yoeal was brought to the hospital, where he was declared dead by the doctor and further alleged that the son of the complainant namely Yoeal was very intelligent and age span of the family of the complainant is upto 75 years and if Yoeal, son of the complainant was not died, he has to alive till the age of 75 years and in order to prove the negligence and deficiency in service, the counsel for the complainant referred an affidavit of the complainant Shinder Pal Kaur as Ex.CA as well as affidavit of other complainant Dilbagh Singh as Ex.CC, whereby both the complainants reiterated the entire facts as detailed in the complaint and further counsel for the complainant referred an affidavit Ex.CB of the independent witness Joginder Dass and also referred an affidavit Ex.CD of Karam Singh and further referred the report of Hospital Ex.C-1 and negligent act of the OP was published in newspaper and copy of the same is Ex.C-2, Birth Certificate of the Deceased Ex.C-3 and Death Certificate of the Deceased Ex.C-5 and Aadhar Card Ex.C6 and further gave much stress on the affidavit of one expert witness i.e. Electrician Harkamaljit, whose affidavit is Ex.C-10, who also fortified the version of the complainant and lastly, counsel for the complainant made reliance upon a pronouncement of Hon'ble Madras High Court, cited in 2017 (4) RCR (Civil) 267, titled as “P. Siva Shakthivels Vs. The Chairman, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board” and lastly, submitted that due to negligence act of the OP, irreparable loss caused to the complainant, which cannot be compensated in the terms of money, but even then in order to provide some financial help to the complainant, a compensation to the tune of Rs.20,00,000/- may be awarded to the complainant.

10. On the other hand, the learned counsel for the OPs submitted that there is no negligence or deficiency in service on the part of the OP because as per version of the complainant themselves that the desert cooler was not working, if so then, how electricity passed to the body of the desert cooler, which is not possible and further submitted that the positive line was never connected with the neutral line nor it was repaired at any time by the official of the OP, even there is no complaint made by the complainant, for that purpose, the OP has brought on the file copy of complaint register Ex.OPW/2 and also brought on the file affidavit of Ram Parsad, SDO as Ex.OPA/1, Affidavit of Amarjit Singh, Assistant Line Man as Ex.OPA/2 and Affidavit of Surinder Pal, Line Man as Ex.OPA/3 and further, referred the depositions of each of the employee made in the respective affidavit, whereby they fortified the version of the OP as taken in the written reply and lastly submitted that the complaint of the complainant is without merits and the same may be dismissed.

11. We have considered the respective submission and also scanned the documents as well as pleadings and find that the simple plea taken by the complainant in Para No.3 of the complaint that the negative and positive points were in reverse gear. The positive line was connected with the neutral line and the neutral line with the positive line of the electric connection, so that electricity directly passed to the body of the desert cooler and leg of the son of the complainant touched with the desert cooler and due to electric shock, the son of the complainant namely Yoeal was died at the spot and in order to give strength to this submission, the complainant has mainly examined one Electrician Harkamaljit, whose affidavit is Ex.C-10 and also get a support from the judgment of Hon'ble Madras High Court as referred above, we have gone through the depreciation of the said expert witness i.e. Electrician Harkamaljit, whose affidavit is Ex.C-10, wherein he categorically deposed that “in case the electricity passing through positive line is connected with neutral line, in that event, electricity will pass on directly without any control through the switch board and it will pass on a electric instrument directly such as desert cooler.” The said expert witness does not say even Iota of word in his affidavit whether he has checked the electricity connection of the house of the complainant, which comes from the meter box to the main board of the house of the complainant, if he did not check the wires of the electricity, then how he can say that the positive line was connected with the neutral line, without checking the wiring, he can only assess and guess that the positive line is connected with the neutral line. So, the opinion given by the said expert witness Harkamaljit is just on the basis of surmises and conjectures, which is not based on any physical checking of the electricity connection and if, in the light of above discussion, we consider the judgment referred by the learned counsel for the complainant (Supra) 2017 (4) RCR (Civil) 267, the same is not applicable in the present case being not having identical facts to the case in hand. We have similar view in regard to affidavit of the complainants and other witnesses. Further documents are not required to discus because the death of the son of the complainant is not denied by the OP.

12. Apart from above, we have also considered the case of the complainant independently and find that the complainants themselves alleged in para No.3 of the complaint that the desert cooler was not working, we can construe two meaning of the word “Desert Cooler was not working”, whether it is defective or its plug is not attached with the switch board, regarding that the complainant has not made it clear in the complaint, but even then we have to discuss both aspects, first of all, if the desert cooler is having some defect and then its wires are attached with the supply board, then obviously the current can be passed through the body of the desert cooler being a defective one, secondly, if the plug of the desert cooler is not affixed with the electricity supply board, at that eventuality, how electricity current can come in the cooler. So, from both angles, the current could not pass through the desert cooler. Moreover, if there is any electricity short in the neutral line, then it use not so much high power, which can cause damage to the life. If current is coming in the neutral, then it is not the fault of the Power Corporation because the liability, maintenance and providing a good service upon the State Power Corporation is to supply electricity upto electric meter, installed outside the house of each consumer and after electric meter the liability to maintenance is upon the each consumer and similarly, if there is an electric current in the neutral wire, then we cannot fasten liability upon the OP. Each consumer is personally himself liable for any defect as well as maintenance of the electricity wiring of his own house. Only at one instance, liability of the OP can be affixed, if high voltage electricity come in the house and when this type of situation is occurred, then all the instruments like TV, Fridge etc. will be damaged, though the case of the complainant is not such, but even then if high voltage electricity come, then the TV of the complainant was not to be operated at that time, that will be immediately damaged due to heavy voltage. So, from all angles, we find that there is no negligence or deficiency in service on the part of the OPs and therefore, it is clear that the complaint of the complainant is without merits and the same is dismissed with no order of cost. Parties will bear their own cost. This complaint could not be decided within stipulated time frame due to rush of work.

13. Copies of the order be supplied to the parties free of cost, as per Rules. File be indexed and consigned to the record room.

Dated Harvimal Dogra Karnail Singh

06.03.2018 Member President