Present (1) Nisha Nath Ojha,
District & Sessions Judge (Retd.) President
(2) Smt. Karishma Mandal,
Member
Date of Order : 11.12.2015
Nisha Nath Ojha
- In the instant case the Complainant has sought for following reliefs against the Opposite parties:-
- To direct the opposite parties to redresses excess telephone bills and to pay the aforesaid amount.
- Brief facts of the case which led to the filing of complaint are as follows:-
The complainant has asserted that he is consumer of base phone of opposite parties since 11.12.2007, bearing Telephone No. 0612 – 6455571.
The complainant has deposited his telephone bills regularly and he has paid bills for Rs. 514/- for the period of 25.02.2010 to 24.03.2010 Annexure – 1 is the receipt of the aforesaid bill. The complainant has further asserted that after payment of aforesaid bill his telephone became out of order and thereafter the complainant was made visit to opposite parties. In this regard thereafter engineer of opposite parties visited the house of the complainant on 17.04.2010 for redressal of the grievance of the complainant and assured that telephone will work properly. The fault completion report of the aforesaid engineer of the opposite parties has been marked as Annexure – 2.
It is further case of the complainant that again his telephone became out of order then the complainant visited opposite parties again on 19.04.2010 and thereafter the engineer of opposite parties visited the house of the complainant after verifying the telephone set replaced the old battery by new one on 24.04.2010. The fault completion report dated 21.04.2010 has been annexed as Annexure – 3 by the complainant.
It has been further stated by the complainant that Rs. 8,800/- has been sent by way of telephone bill for the period of 25.03.2010 to 24.04.2010. It has been asserted by the complainant that from the details of the excess bill it transpires that telephone calls have been made to unknown numbers which does not belongs to either his relatives or friends. The grievance of the complainant is that despite his visited to the office of opposite parties several times correct bills has not been furnished to him which has resulted his in mental agony and as such the conduct of the opposite parties amounts to deficiency.
The complainant has assessed the loss of Rs. 25,000/- which includes litigation costs and other expenses.
It is needless to say that when despite of notice opposite parties did not made appearance in this case and the registered notice did not returned hence the service of valid notice was declared vide order dated 26.07.2012.
It goes without saying that when the opposite parties did not appear then this case was heard ex – parte.
The crux of this case is that bill of excess amount has been issued by opposite parties and the same has not been corrected despite several visits by complainant to the office of the opposite parties.
We find and hold that such action of opposite parties amounts to deficiency on the part of opposite parties.
We have perused the entire complaint petition carefully.
From Annexure – 2 and 3 it appears that the telephone was out of order and as such the engineer of opposite parties had to come to house of the complainant for the purpose of rectification of fault. Annexure – 2 and 3 clearly proves that the telephone of the complainant was out of order for certain period. From Annexure – 4 it is crystal clear that despite the aforesaid fact i.e. Annexure – 2 and 3 the bill has been sent to the complainant for the period 25.03.2010 to 24.04.2010 Vide Annexure – 4. The total amount of bill is Rs. 8,800/- as will appear from Annexure – 4.
We are not in position to know how much calls the complainant has made to whom hence we refrained from record any findings in this regard.
In view of the fact stated above we hereby direct the complainant to file appropriate petition before opposite parties for rectification of his bills giving the reason for rectification with certified of this order within a period of one month from the date of receipt of this order or certified copy of this order. After receipt of the aforesaid application with certified copy of the order or receipt of copy of this order opposite parties are directed to issue correct bill after examining the entire facts and details with reasoned order within a period of two months from the date of the application for rectification by the complainant as stated above.
We further direct that unless the opposite parties pass appropriate order with reason on the application filed by the complainant referred above, the amount annexed in Annexure – 4 shall not be realised from the complainant, if not realised earlier.
We further direct the opposite parties to pay Rs. 2,000/- to the complainant by way of litigation costs and compensation within the aforesaid period of two months.
Accordingly, this case stands allowed to the extent indicated above.
Member President
