Hon'ble Mr. Subhas Ch. Guin, Member.
The brief fact of the instant case as culled out from the complaint petition is that the Complainant, Mr. Rahim Ali, who is a resident of Village- Nabani, P.S. Dinhata, Dist- Cooch Behar installed a rice mill in his premises for self employment for which he applied for electric connection to the Station Manager, WBSEDCL, Okrabari CCC, P.S. Dinhata, Dist- Cooch Behar (O.P. No.1) who after full enquiry issued quotation for the same. The Complainant deposited the quotation amount to the O.P. No.1 (Annexure-B) on 27.04.2021 and got industrial connection from WBSEDCL on 15.06.2011. At the time of installation of the connection, the voltage of the said connection was alright but with lapse of 7 years i.e. in the year, 2018, the voltage became very low due to heavy load of that area which was due to increased number of consumer. Thus, the Complainant’s rice mill could not be operated due to low voltage as the O.P. No.1 did not install additional transformer to cope with the huge rush of consumer in that area. Thereafter, the Complainant filed written complaint before the O.P. No.1 on 05.02.2018, 19.03.2018 and 23.09.2018 for rectification of low voltage problem. Again, on 29.05.2018 he filed a written complaint to the D.M., Cooch Behar and subsequently D.M., Cooch Behar sent a letter dated 08.06.2018 to the Divisional Manager, WBSEDCL, Cooch Behar Division, Dist- Cooch Behar for looking into the matter (O.P. No.2) who issued another letter dated 02.07.2018 to the O.P. No.1 for necessary steps to that effect. The recurrence of the incident happened with sending letter from D.M., Cooch Behar on 24.09.2018 and from the O.P. No.2 to O.P. No.1 on 28.09.2018. Moreover, the D.M., Cooch Behar sent another letter dated 14.02.2019 to the O.Ps but till date O.Ps did not take any step towards the redressal of the grievance of the Complainant. Being aggrieved with the attitude of the O.Ps, the Complainant filed another written complaint before the O.P. No.1 and D.M., Cooch Behar on 15.06.2019 but all efforts were in vain. On 31.05.2019, D.M., Cooch Behar also sent another letter to the O.Ps.
As a result, the Complainant could not operate his rice mill due to low voltage which was due to negligence of the O.Ps. The cause of action of the present case arose on 05.02.2018, 19.03.2018 when the Complainant filed written complaint before the O.P. No.1 and on 02.07.2018, 29.09.2018 when the O.P. No.2 issued letter to O.P. No.1 and lastly on 15.06.2019 and 15.01.2019 when the Complainant filed written complaint and still continued.
As a last resort, he filed the case before the Commission for redressal of his grievance. He prayed for a direction to the O.Ps to rectify the voltage of that area and to pay Rs.20,000/- as compensation for his loss in business due to low voltage and Rs.5000/- for deficiency in service and Rs.2000/- for litigation cost.
Notice were served upon the O.Ps. From the case record it is seen that the O.P. No.2 did not appear before the Commission to contest the case. So, the case was decided to be heard ex-parte against the O.P. No.2 by the Commission vide its Order No.23 dated 10.01.2022. But the O.P. No.1 contested the case by filing written version, evidence on affidavit, written argument and some documents in form of firisti. The O.P. No.1 in his defence raised objection about the maintainability of the present case. He stated that the Complainant installed his rice mill to earn his livelihood by means of self employment, as written in his complaint petition which is totally false. As the Complainant is a Civic Volunteer under the Govt. of West Bengal which is a full time job so the question of earning livelihood by self employment by running the rice mill does not arise. The Ld. Advocate for the O.P. No.1 also submitted that one higher capacity transformer (63 KVA) was installed at time of connection of the husking mill of the Complainant but with increase in number of consumer in that area low voltage is a big issue for last ¾ years. So it is not a fact that only Complainant’s mill is affected due to low voltage problem. On the contrary, the Complainant is a defaulter and his electric line was disconnected on 28.06.2018 for non-payment of outstanding bill of Rs.28,519/- and it remained same till date. The O.P. No.1 took all necessary steps to eradicate the problem of low voltage in that area and a new 25 KVA transformed was sanctioned by the higher authority to be installed for which pole erection work also completed. But local villagers raised objections to install 25 KVA sub-station and also to draw II KV HT over head line through their land as well as over the road due to security reasons. They also filed written complaint to the O.P. No.1 through B.D.O., Dinhata-1, on 09.07.2018. As a result, the O.P. No.1 was compelled to stop rest of the work of installation of a new 25 KVA sub-station/ transformer despite several requests from D.M., Cooch Behar. Thereafter, the O.P. No.1 informed the matter of non-completion of installation work of 25 KVA transformer in detail to the Divisional Manager, WBSEDCL, Cooch Behar Division and Sub-Divisional Officer, Dinhata on 10.07.2018 and 08.01.2019 respectively. Again, to find out the root cause of the agitation of the villagers of the O.P. No.1 along with the Complainant and authorised contractor visited the spot and found that three poles were erected on the land of other person without their permission only on instruction from the Complainant by the contractor of WBSEDCL. It had also come to the knowledge of the O.P.1 that being a civic police of Dinhata police station, the Complainant played a dominant role on the neighbours and misbehaved with them. So the neighbours also disliked him for his such behaviour.
Moreover, the said work could not be completed with the help of police as these people did not allow to pass over head HT line across their own land. Therefore, there was no negligence/deficiency in service/unfair trade practice on the part of the O.P. No.1 for which the Complainant is not entitled to get any relief as prayed for in his complaint petition. So, this complaint petition is liable to be dismissed with cost for unnecessary harassment.
On perusing the case record ad documents filed by both parties and also hearing the arguments of both parties, the Commission comes to the conclusion that following point needs to be discussed for adjudication the case.
Point for consideration
- Is there any deficiency in service on the part of the O.Ps?
Decision with reasons
Point No.1.
The Complainant, Mr. Rahim Ali got his industrial connection from WBSEDCL on 15.06.2011 on deposition of quotation amount of Rs.1,25,116/-(Annexure-A & B). But after a lapse of appear 7 years, the problem of low voltage arose in that area for which Complainant’s mill was stopped. He prayed before the O.P. No.1 for rectification of problem of low voltage on 05.02.2018, 19.03.2018 and 23.09.2018 (Annexure-C, D & E). He also filed written complaint to the D.M., Cooch Behar for which D.M., Cooch Behar sent a letter to the O.P. No.2 on 08.06.2018(Annexure-G) for looking into the matter. The O.P. No.2 issued letter to that effect on 02.07.2018 to the O.P. No.1 (Annexure-H). Again, D.M., Cooch Behar sent letter to the O.P. No.2 on 24.09.2018 and 14.02.2019 (Annexure-I & K). Thereafter, the Complainant again filed a written complaint to the O.P. No.1 and D.M., Cooch Behar on 15.06.2019. Despite repeated prayer to the O.Ps and D.M., Cooch Behar for rectification of low voltage problem but no solution was found. Thus Complainant took recourse of law for redressal. of this grievance From the submission and argument advanced by the O.P. No.1, it was admitted fact that there was low voltage problem in that area for last ¾ years which affected not only Complainant’s husking mill but also others belonged to that area. Considering requests from the Complainant and D.M., Cooch Behar, the O.P. No.1 took initiative to eradicate the problem of low voltage and accordingly a new 25 KVA transformer had been sanctioned by the higher authority of WBSEDCL. The WBSEDCL started work of installation of 25 KVA transformer for which three poles were erected. Unfortunately local villagers raised objection at the site and filed written complaint to the B.D.O., Dinhata-I and the O.P. No.1 on 09.07.2018(Annexure-I). In their written complaint, they raised objection against erection of pole and drawal of II KV HT over head line due to security of the household and passerby as the line would be drawn across the road which is full of traffic and there is a primary school whose children walk through the road over which HT overhead line will be drawn. On receipt of such written complaint and agitation at the site, the O.P. No.1 was bound to stop the work of installation of 25 KVA transformer and II KV HT line.
Moreover, the rest of the work of installation of 25 KVA transformer could not be completed with the help of police also as those agitating people did not allow the HT overhead line to pass across their own land. Thus, Keeping all these factors in mind, including the provision relating to safety and electric supply under section 53(a) of Electricity Act, 2003 wherein it is stated that the Authority may protect the public (including the persons engaged in the generation, transmission or distribution or trading of electricity or use of electricity supplied or installation, maintenance or use of any electric line or electrical plant.
Ultimately, WBSEDCL had to quit the job of installation 25 KVA transformer and 11 KV HT line. On the other hand, WBSEDCL had installed a new 220 KV sub-station at Dinhata which catered to the need of electricity of the people of that area in early 2019, the fact the commission comes to know from statement submitted by the O.P.1 at the time of argument. Now, no low voltage problem was heard in the Dinhata sub-Division since then. From the aforesaid discussion, it is seen that the O.P. No.1 left no stone unturned to eradicate the low voltage problem of the Complainant who is an esteemed customer of the O.P. No.1. Therefore, the Commission comes to a conclusion that there is no deficiency in service on the part of the O.P. No.1.
In the result, the complaint case fails on contest.
Hence, it is
Ordered
That the instant case be and the same is dismissed on contest without cost.
D.A. to note in the trial Register.
Let a plain copy of this Order be supplied to the concerned party by hand/by Registered Post with A/D forthwith, free of cost, for information & necessary action as per rule.
The copy of the Final Order is also available in the official website: www.confonet.nic.in.
Dictated and corrected by me.
