This C.C. came before us for final hearing in the presence of Sri.Md.Zaheer Ali, Advocate for complainant and of Sri.G.Hareender Reddy, Advocate for opposite parties; upon hearing the arguments and upon perusing the material papers on record, this Forum passed the following order:
O R D E R
(per Sri. Vijay Kumar, President)
1. This complaint is filed u/s.12 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The averments made in the complaint are that the complainant is running a rice mill at Muthagudem village of Khammam rural mandal, and he is subscriber of power supply vide S.C.No.28 under category-III and he is regularly paying the bills from the date of supply of power to the mill. That on 29-11-2004 a memo was issued to him by the opposite parties demanding to pay Rs.1740/- for a period from 2-12-2003 to 21-10-2004 being the cost of energy, which is not recorded by the meter and this was detected during inspection that a screw was said to have been found loose and the said amount was paid by the complainant.
2. Again another memo dt.3-4-2007 was issued to the complainant to pay Rs.5,275/- towards cost of the energy not recorded by the meter, show cause notice was issued stating that this was detected during inspection on 7-1-2006 by one Sri Ram, AAE and found the meter recording consumption with error of 63.9%. The complainant has given a suitable reply to the show cause notice. The opposite parties threatened to disconnect the power supply if the amount of Rs.5,275/- is not paid to the opposite party No.2 within a period of one month. That the demand under order No.DEE/OP/KMM/Tech.F No.RE-7/D.15/07, dt.3-4-2007 is illegal and the complainant is not liable to pay the power charges though the appeal is provided to the Superintending Engineer/Operation/Khammam of Electrical Department, but no purpose is going to be served. Hence, prayed to declare the demand is illegal and is liable to be set aside the same.
3. On receipt of the notice, the opposite parties appeared through their counsel, filed counter and denied all the allegations made in the complaint and contended that the Asst. Divisional Engineer/C.T. Meters inspected the S.C.No.28, Category-III A located at Muthagudem on 21-10-2004 in the presence of the complainant and found that the meter is not recording consumption in B phase, that immediately T.T.B., opened and found that B-phase current terminal screw got loose, the same was tightened after rectification of the meter recorded amperage in all 3 phases. For the period which consumption recorded low due to technical problem shortfall unit assessed and initial assessment notice is issued to the consumer by the Asst. Divisional Engineer/operation/rural, Khammam as per the clause 7.5.1.3 mentioned in General Terms and Conditions of supply. The complainant paid the short fall assessed amount of Rs.1,740/-. Again the A.D.E. inspected the said meter in the presence of complainant and tested the meter with L.T. Phase 3 Accokeek portable energy meter and he found that the meter is recording consumption with (-) 63.9% error. Immediately the defective meter was replaced with another meter. The short fall units assessed due to meter defective made for the six months as per the clause 7.5.1.4.4 mentioned in General Terms and conditions of supply. The initial assessment notice was issued to the complainant on 21-2-2006. Final assessment order passed by the Divisional Engineer, Operation, Khammam was also served to the complainant on 15-7-2007 by estimating the value of energy, which is not recorded by the meter at Rs.5,275/-, directing the complainant to pay the said amount before the opposite party No.2 within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order.
4. Further, the complainant was also informed that if he is aggrieved by the above order he may appeal to the Superintending Engineer, Operation, Khammam, who is appellate authority to file an appeal memorandum within 30 days with a deposit of 50% of the assessed amount to the Asst. Accounts Officer, ERO, Khammam. Therefore, if any objection to the complainant on the assessment order passed by the Divisional Engineer, the complainant shall prefer before the S.E., Khammam. But in this case without utilizing the remedy to prefer appeal, the complainant filed this complaint, which is not maintainable.
5. Along with the complaint, the complainant filed the following documents:
1) Notice issued by ADE, Khammam, Dt.29-11-2004, which is marked as Ex.A.1.
2) order passed by D.E., Electricity, Khammam, dt.3-4-2007, which is marked as
Ex.A.2
3) Original bill(NPDCL Electricity Charges Receipt), dt.22-3-2007, which is
marked as Ex.A.3.
4) Electricity bill, dt.25-2-2007, which is marked as Ex.A.4
5) Original bill(NPDCL Electricity Charges Receipt), dt.23-6-2007, which is
marked as Ex.A.5.
6) Electricity bill, dt.25-5-2007, which is marked as Ex.A.6.
6. On behalf of the complainant written arguments filed.
7. On behalf of the opposite parties, except counter no documents were filed.
8. Heard both sides. Perused the oral and documentary evidence on record, upon which the points that arose for consideration are,
1. Whether the assessment order dt.3-4-2007 issued by the opposite party No.1 is
liable to be set aside?
2. To what relief?
Point No.1:
9. The case of the complainant is that the opposite party No.1 issued a memo on 2-5-2007 demanding to pay Rs.5,275/- towards costs of the energy, which was found to be error in consumption recording. In fact neither there was an error of 63% consumption of power supply nor was an excess energy consumed. As such the complainant is not liable to pay the demanded amount. The complainant admits that it was informed by the opposite parties that the Superintending Engineer, Operation, Khammam being appellate authority to hear the appeal in case of grievance on the assessment order passed by the D.E. But instead of utilizing the remedy by preferring the appeal before the Superintending Engineer, the complainant had filed this complaint. It is a fact that the complainant without utilizing the remedy available before the Superintending Engineer, Khammam, has approached this Forum. Therefore, we do not consider that this is a fit case to exercise our jurisdiction under Consumer Protection Act. Under the terms and conditions of supply the procedure had prescribed by the board in cases of pilferage, as to how the authorities should act and pass orders Provisional Assessment as well as Final Assessment. The right of appeal is also provided against the order of final assessment, under the terms and conditions of supply. In the instant case, the Asst. Engineer, who is the competent authority inspected the premises of the complainant and on the basis of his inspection report, the Assistant Divisional Engineer has passed the order of provisional Assessment. Therefore, the remedy is available to the complainant to prefer the appeal to Superintendent Engineer, who shall pass orders of Final Assessment within 4 weeks from the date of receipt of the order after giving opportunity of being heard to the complainant. Therefore, if the complainant is aggrieved of that order, it is needless to mention that he can file an appeal and seek appropriate relief. Hence, it is not a fit case to exercise the jurisdiction under Consumer Protection Act. Accordingly, the complaint is liable to be dismissed.
10. In the result, the complaint is dismissed with no costs.
Dictated to the steno, transcribed by her, corrected and pronounced by us in the open forum, on this 13th day of February, 2009.
PRESIDENT MEMEBR MEMBER
DISTRICT CONSUMERS FORUM
KHAMMAM
Appendix of Evidence
Witnesses examined for complainant
-None-
Witnesses examined for opposite parties:
-None-
Exhibits marked for complainant:
Ex.A.1- Notice issued by ADE, Khammam, Dt.29-11-2004,
Ex.A.2- Order passed by D.E., Electricity, Khammam, dt.3-4-2007,
Ex.A.3 - Original bill(NPDCL Electricity Charges Receipt), dt.22-3-2007,
Ex.A.4- Electricity bill, dt.25-2-2007,
Ex.A.5- Original bill(NPDCL Electricity Charges Receipt), dt.23-6-2007,
Ex.A.6 - Electricity bill, dt.25-5-2007
Exhibits marked for opposite party No.3:
-Nil-
PRESIDENT MEMEBR MEMBER
DISTRICT CONSUMERS FORUM
KHAMMAM
