D.o.F:18/10/08 D.o.O: 3/4/09. IN THE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, KASARAGOD CC.209/08 Dated this, the 3nd day of April 2009. PRESENT SRI.K.T.SIDHIQ : PRESIDENT SMT.P.RAMADEVI : MEMBER SMT.P.P.SYAMALADEVI : MEMBER B.V.Rajagopalan, S/o T.Kunhiraman, Kanathinthitta Veedu, :Complainant Milatti Po, Uduma,Kasaragod. (in person) Raveendran, Proprietor, : Opposite party Jwala Agencies, HPC Gas Distributors,Kalanad Po. (Adv.Manikandan Nambiar ,Kasragod) ORDER SRI.K.T.SIDHIQ ; PRESIDENT The case of the complainant is that the opposite party failed to supply him the refilled gas cylinder instead of his booking made on 26/8/08 with No.1275. Hence the complainant prays for an order claiming compensation of Rs.5000/- and a direction to the opposite party to supply him refilled gas cylinder. 2. Opposite party contended that the complainant has not booked the refilled cylinder on 26/8/08. They came to know about the booking only when the copy of the complaint received from the Forum. Therefore the complainant not entitled for any relief as prayed in the complaint. Further opposite party cannot assure that they can supply the refilled cylinder within a specified date from the date of booking. It depends upon so many factors like the supply of refilled cylinder from the plant, the increase in the number of customers ,the distance to reach the consumers premises etc. Hence there is no deficiency in service on the part of opposite parties. 3. To prove the case of the complainant, he give oral evidence as PW1 and Exts.A1&A2 marked. Ext.A1 is the copy of consumer card and Ext.A2 is the details of call report made from his landline phone No.2238233 from 1/7/08 to 1/11/09. The documents of opposite party are marked as Ext.B1& B2 4. Ext.A2, the extract of call reports shows that complainant had made a telephonic call to opposite party on 26/8/08 with a duration of 34 seconds. That time is enough to order for a gas cylinder. Thereafter on 18/9/08,24/9/08,6/10/08,14/10/08 and on 16/10/08 he had made calls to the opposite party. According to complainant those calls were made to enquire about the non- supply of the gas cylinder booked. 5. Therefore, the contention of the opposite party that the complainant doesn’t made any booking on 26/8/08 is not believable. According to the complainant, he had received a booking number 1275 on the date of booking. It was the number provided by opposite party. The complainant cannot be blamed for the wrong booking number provided by the opposite party. The contention of the opposite party that they cannot assure that they can supply the cylinder within a fixed days of booking is also not justifiable in view of order 9 of the Liquified Petrolium Gas(Regulation of Supply and Distribution) order 2000. Order 9 of the regulations deals with the procurement, storage and sale of liquefied Petroleum gas by a distributor. 9(a) of the order specifies that no distributor having stock of liquefied petroleum gas at the business premises, including storage point shall unless otherwise directed by a Govt. oil company or a parallel marketeer, refuse to sell LPG on any working day during working hours to the consumer registered with the distributor. 9[c] of the order provides that every distributor shall take steps to ensure that stocks of liquefied petroleum gas are available at the business premises including storage point at all times. 6. These orders show that the distributor is bound to maintain sufficient stock at the business premises at all times and therefore he cannot blame the storage plant authorities or oil companies for the delay in supply. He cannot blame the volume of consumers for the delay in delivery of cylinders. Being a distributor it is his bounden duty to make sufficient infra-structure facilities to supply the refilled cylinders within a reasonable time of booking without expressing the inability to supply the refilled cylinders to the consumers. Further he shall not refuse to sell PLG cylinder to any consumer. The non registration of booking and the non supply of refilled gas cylinder etc amounts to refusal to sell LPG. 7. The complainant booked for the refilled gas cylinder on 26/8/08 and the cylinder is not supplied to him till date. The complainant deposed that he uses kerosene and fire wood if the gas cylinder is emptied 8. The opposite party is bound to pay the cost of these alternative fuels used by the complainant for cooking that we estimates @Rs.10/- per day. The non-delivery of a refilled gas cylinder within a reasonable time say within 10 days is a deficiency in service and the opposite party is liable to pay Rs.10/- each to the consumer after 10th day of booking as compensation towards the expenses incurred by the consumer to find out alternative fuel sources for domestic purposes.. The complaint is therefore allowed and the opposite party is directed to supply the LPG refilled gas cylinder immediately to the complainant. Opposite party further directed to pay Rs.10/- each per day from the 10th day of booking ie 6/9/08 to till the date of delivery by way of compensation along with a cost of Rs.1000/-. Time for payment of compensation and cost is limited to 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of order. MEMBER MEMBER PRESIDENT Exts: A1- copy of consumer card A2- details of call report B1-copy of consumer history card B2- copy of booking register MEMBER MEMBER PRESIDENT eva/
......................K.T.Sidhiq
......................P.P.Shymaladevi
......................P.Ramadevi | | 
