Complainant Sohan Lal through the present complaint filed under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short, ‘the Act’) has prayed that his complaint may kindly be accepted with the directions to the opposite parties to release the electric tubewell connection in his favour and also to pay compensation to the him on account of mental as well as physical harassment suffered by him from the hands of the opposite parties along with litigation expenses, all in the interest of justice.
2. The case of the complainant in brief is that he is an owner of the agricultural land and he had applied for getting tubewell connection under the category of small farmer and had also deposited the requisite fee of Rs.1000/-with the opposite parties vide receipt No.81428 dated 16.04.2007 and had also completed all the formalities of the opposite parties for getting the tubewell connection in his favour. It was pleaded that opposite parties had not released the tubewell connection in favour of the complainant whereas they had released the tubewell connections to those persons who had applied for the same after the complainant. It was further pleaded that Punjab Government as well as Punjab State Power Corporation Limited had also issued instructions to those persons who had also applied for getting the tubewell connections within the period of 01.01.2014 to onwards and the Corporation also released the tubewell connections in their favour and the opposite parties had also issued demand notices to them but the complainant who had applied for getting the said connection much earlier to those persons had not been granted connection so far. It was also pleaded that complainant approached the opposite parties number of times and requested them to release the tubewell connection in his favour but the opposite parties always putting off the matter with one or the other pretext and finally opposite party No.1 refused to admit the claim of the complainant which has necessitated the complainant to file the instant complaint and even complainant had made several visits to the offices of the opposite parties for getting the tubewell connection but of no avail. It was next pleaded that due to the illegal act and conduct of the opposite parties complainant had suffered huge monetary loss and suffered mental as well as physical agony from the hands of the opposite parties and as such there was clear cut deficiency in service on the part of the opposite parties, hence this complaint.
- Notice of the complaint was served upon the opposite parties who appeared through their counsel and filed the written reply by taking the preliminary objections that as per circular No.44/2015 dated 16.12.2015 of PSPCL, those farmers who were having land ranging between 2.5 acres to 5 acres and applied for tubewell connection upto 31.03.2007 with PSPCL will be eligible for getting the same but complainant had applied for the tubewell connection under the category of 2.5 acres to 5 acres of land on 16.04.2007 beyond the permissible date mentioned above and as such he was not entitled for the tubewell connection; complaint filed by the complainant is without any merits and vexatious one and as such deserves to be dismissed with costs. On merits, the contents of para No.1 of the preliminary objections are again repeated and as per the above mentioned facts complainant was not entitled for releasing the tubewell connection as alleged by the opposite parties. All other averments made in complaint have been denied and lastly prayed for dismissal of the complaint with special costs.
4. Complainant had tendered into evidence his own affidavit Ex.CW1/A along with documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C3 and closed his evidence.
5. Counsel for the opposite parties had tendered into evidence affidavit of Sh.Subash Chander SDO Ex.OP-1 along with documents Ex.OP-2 to Ex.OP-4 and closed the evidence on behalf of opposite parties.
6. We have duly heard the learned counsels for both the sides and find that the complainant had applied for a fresh/new Electric Tube-Well Power Connection for irrigating his Agricultural Land under Small/Merginal Farmer Category (Land Holding less than 2.5 Acre being 14K-8M to be exact) at his native village: Dodwan (Gurdaspur). However, the OP Corporation refused to sanction/ release the applied for connection alleging (Affidavit Ex.OP1) that the complainant has applied for fresh T/W Power Connection on 16.04.2007 vide Receipt # 81428 for Rs.1000/- under the small-farmer category (land holding between 2.5 Acre to 05 Acre) whereas the cut-off date for release of fresh connection under this category has been 31.03.2007 vide head iii) clause 2) of Circular # 44/2015 (Ex.OP2) Memo # 707/711 of 16.12.2015. In order to further support its above contention, the OP Corporation (Service Providers) has produced two nos. of affidavits (Ex.OP3 & Ex.OP4) purported to be deposed by the complainant that his land holding has been under the ‘5’ Acre mark (that is decidedly under the 2.5 Acre Mark, also).
7. However, we find that in the OP quoted that very circular (Ex.OP2) under the same head iii) but under clause 1) the cut-off date also appears as: 31.12.2013 for applicant category having land holding from 01 Acre to 2.5 Acre and the complainant does hold an Ag Land 14K-08M that is: 01Acre-06Kanal-08Marla (i.e., between 01Acre to 2.5 Acre) as per Fard Haqiat & Jamanbandi (Year 2012-13) of Village: Dodwa Had Bast 279, Tehsil: Dinanagar (Gurdaspur); and thus his application dated 16.04.2007 has been clear cut eligible for sanction/release of the fresh Tube Well Power Connection as per the OP Corporation’s own policy cum guidelines pertaining to release of fresh/new power connections; and thus the present refusal/ non-release of connection to the present complainant does amount to unfair trade practice coupled with deficiency in service and that turns the OP liable to an adverse statutory award under the applicable C P Act, 1986. The demand of security fee deposit of Rs.1000/- as put forth upon the complainant was duly complied with and that also makes him eligible for issuance of fresh power connection by the opposite party corporation and its refusal shall amount to be ‘arbitrary-act’ and not a matter of routine since it has not been even proved to be in accordance with the legally acceptable norms as per the Sales/ Distribution Rules & Regulations etc.
- In the light of the all above, we partly allow the present complaint and thus ORDER the opposite party corporation to release the applied for impugned Tube Well Power supply connection to the complainant besides to pay him Rs.5,000/- as cost and compensation within 30 days of the receipt of the copy of the present orders otherwise the awarded amount shall attract interest @ 9% PA from the date of the complaint till actual payment. The complainant shall promptly deposit the minimal but requisite demand notice amount/securities/ fees & others etc upon receipt of the related demand(s) as raised by the OP Corporation so as to facilitate compliance of the present orders.
- Copy of the order be communicated to the parties free of charges. After compliance, file be consigned to records.
(Naveen Puri)
President.
ANNOUNCED: (Jagdeep Kaur)
SEPT. 16, 2016 Member.
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