1. This appeal has been preferred by the Chief General Manager, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd , Port Blair against the order dated 18.02.2005 passed by the District Forum, Andaman District whereby the complaint filed by the respondent herein was allowed directing the appellant to remove the defects in the SIM Card of complainant or replace the SIM Card by new one within one month from the date of order and also to pay Rs.5000/- to the respondent as compensation.

2. The respondent purchased one SIM Card bearing No. 9434281630 from the appellant in the month of June 2003 but the Cell one facility was not provided with SIM Card by the appellant. The respondent wrote several letters with request to change SIM Card or to provide the facility with the existing SIM Card. The appellant did not take any action. So respondent filed a case under section 12 of Consumer Protection Act 1986 before Ld. District Forum. The complaint was contested by the appellant stating that a letter was sent to the respondent on 7/3/2003 with a request to meet Divisional Engineer (Mobile Service)   at Telephone Exchange, Port Blair along with the SIM Card but the respondent did not meet the Divisional Engineer. So nothing could be done.

3. The Ld. District Forum recorded the evidence of PW-1 as also of DW-1.On examining the evidence the Forum came to the conclusion that the letter dt. 17.8.2003 allegedly issued by BSNL had no reference number nor did any memo number .So the forum below conclude that the said letter was created for the purpose of the present case. The Forum below disbelieved the appellant’s case and accepted the Respondent’s allegation as true. The Forum directed the respondent to repair the SIM Card or to replace the same by a new one. The forum also directed to pay Rs. 5000/- to complainant as compensation.

4. In the Memo of appeal the appellant challenge the order on the ground that the order was passed by forum below without appreciating the evidence and without considering the materials on record.

5. At the time of hearing, the Ld.Lawyer M A Rehman appearing for appellant submit that the appellant complied with the order of the District Forum by repairing the SIM Card within the time fixed by the District Forum. This has been stated in Para 3,4,6 of the application of the appellant under sec 5 of limitation Act. The appellant, therefore, prays for setting aside the order only for payment of compensation to the respondent.

6.In the memo of appeal, no such case for setting aside the Rs,5000 as compensation payable to the  complainant has been made out specifically. The finding of the District Forum that the respondent had been subjected to harassment by the appellant herein by not respondent to his repeated request and that this has compelled the respondent to knock the door of the Forum remain unimpaired.

7. The complaint was filed in March 2004 and judgement of District Forum was passed on 18.04.2005.The SIM Card was purchased in June 2003.The complainant could not use the facility of cellone till the 3.3.2005. The complainant, therefore, suffered from abstinence of enjoyment of the facility for a period about more than one year. After having paid the consideration for cell one facility the complainant could not enjoy the same. The case was conducted by the complainant alone without being aided by any lawyer. We appreciate his tenacity and the spirit of fighting the wrong done to him by corporate body under the Govt. On the other hand, the appellant even did not deposit 50% of the amount which is a statutory requirement for filling the appeal. Hence we do not find any ground to interfere with the amount granted by the forum below. The appeal is, therefore dismissed. The appellant is directed to pay Rs.5000/- to the respondent along with the interest @ of 8% per annum from date of the order of the Forum below till payment.