Haryana

Karnal

CC/76/2018

Sukhdev Singh - Complainant(s)

Versus

XEN City Division, Uttar Haryana Bijali Vitran Nigam Ltd - Opp.Party(s)

Jindal Rana

01 Apr 2019

ORDER

BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM KARNAL.

                                                          Complaint No.76 of 2018

                                                         Date of instt. 28.03.2018

                                                         Date of decision:01.04.2018

 

Sukhdev Singh son of Shri Mann Singh, resident of House no.11, Prem Nagar Colony, Karnal.                                                                                                                              …….Complainant.

                                        Versus

 

1.XEN City Division, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd. (Bijli Board) Urban Estate, Karnal.

2. SDO Sub Division Ram Nagar, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd. (Bijli Board) Karnal.

                                                                     …..Opposite Parties.

 

           Complaint u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act.            

 

Before    Sh. Jaswant Singh……President. 

      Sh.Vineet Kaushik ………..Member

                Dr. Rekha Chaudhary……..Member

 

 Present  Shri Jitender Rana Advocate for complainants.

               Shri Amit Munjal Advocate for OPs.

 

                (Jaswant Singh President)

ORDER:                    

 

                         This complaint has been filed by the complainants u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 on the averments that complainant is the permanent resident of House no.11, Prem Nagar Colony, Karnal and an Electric Connection bearing account no.LR-15-3682910000 is installed in the said premises. The bill of said electric connection upto 23.01.2015 was Rs.10,806/- including fine and the meter reading was 2409. After this bill, no bill was received by the complainant from the OP for sometime. The complainant issued a bill dated 15.10.2015 after visited in the office of OP and the old reading of the said bill was 2510 units and the arrear were Rs.14,882.51/-. The OP had prepared the bill for Rs.16,415/- on average of 248 units and Rs.10,000/- were got deposited from the complainant. The next bill from 15.12.2015 to 15.02.2016 was prepared by showing new reading 0 and old reading 122 units for Rs.7603/- on average basis was issued by the OP for the aforesaid electricity connection of the complainant. Thereafter, in the bill dated 15.04.2016, the old reading was shown 2510 and new reading was shown by OP their own will as 3694 units, was prepared of Rs.13,402/- without deducting the previous consumed units of 248 and 122. The complainant moved an application for the correction of this bill dated 15.04.2016 but no action was taken by the OP. Similarly, the bill dated 15.06.2016 was sent on the basis of excess reading which was for Rs.13,997/- for the said connection of the complainant. The complainant moved an application for the correction of the said bill but the same has not been corrected by the OP. Again on the complaint of the complainant, a bill for the period from 15.06.2015 to 29.06.2016 was prepared for Rs.17,579/- but the bill has not been corrected by the OPs. On 3.10.2016, the complainant made a complaint to OP no.2 but no useful purpose was served and the complainant deposited Rs.10,000/- on 3.10.2016 with the OP. The complainant gave photostat copies of the bills which were for 205 days and thereafter a duplicate bill for Rs.11,529/- was prepared after adding a bill for 416 units for Rs.2137.61/- without making any correction in the previous bills. The complainant received three bills from 15.06.2015 to 15.04.2017 i.e. first bill from 15.06.2015 to 15.04.2017 i.e. first bill from 15.06.2015 to 15.08.2016 for Rs.8945/-, second bill from 15.06.2015 to 22.09.2016 for Rs.17579/- and third bill from 22.09.2016 to 15.04.2017 for Rs.11,529/-. The total bill amounts comes Rs.26,332/- and the complainant has deposited Rs.20,000/- and the remaining amount was Rs.6332/- but the bill dated 15.05.2017 was Rs.11,529/- and the OP had taken an amount of Rs.5196/- more without any reason. Due to the aforesaid act and conduct of the OPs, the complainant has filed a complaint u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act before this Forum vide complaint no.186/2017, which was decided vide order dated 16.02.2018. This Forum directed the OPs to furnish the statement of account of the complainant bearing no.3682910000 from January, 2015 till date within 30 days from the receipt of copy of this order. Further the Forum held that however, after receipt of account statement, if the complainant has any grievance, he is at liberty to file fresh complaint. As per the aforesaid order passed by this Hon’ble Forum, the complainant visited several times to the office of OP and also moved an application dated 8.3.2016 to the OP no.2 and requested to provide the statement of account from January, 2015 as ordered by this Hon’ble Forum. But despite the said application, the OP did not provide the statement of account nor corrected the bill till date. Hence this complaint.

2.             Notice of the complaint was given to the OPs, who appeared and filed written statement raising preliminary objections with regard to maintainability; cause of action and complainant is estopped from filing the present complaint.  On merits, it is pleaded that there can be a mistake in the account because of any human/technical problem for which complainant can address his grievances but complainant trying to confuse the matter to avoid outstanding due against him for the problem which is already sorted by the department and crystal clear in the bills. Complainant is irregular in making payment of bills. Due to non-payment of previous charges bill of every cycle accumulate the previous charges, surcharge and current charges. Amount deposited by the complainant is being duly credited in the account of the complainant. It is correct that on 23.01.2015 new reading in the meter of complaint was 2049 and outstanding amount of Rs.10,806/- was due against the complainant. It is incorrect that after that complainant not received the bill. Outstanding amount of Rs.14882.51 accrued due to continuous non-payment of electricity bill. It is incorrect that the bill dated 15.04.2016 was prepared without deducting the previous charges unit (248 and 122) on average basis. An amount of Rs.2222/- is deducted in bill dated 15.04.2016 in lieu of charges unit on average basis. Similarly, an amount of Rs.10,006/- and Rs.3862/- was deducted from the account of complainant which is clearly reflecting in bill dated 16.09.2016 and in revised bill thereafter. Payment charged due to anomaly in reading was duly adjusted as mentioned above. Remaining amount shown in the bills is of consumption, previous outstanding and surcharges due to non-payment of bills. Hence, there was no deficiency in service on the part of the OPs and prayed for dismissal of the complaint.

3.             Complainant tendered into evidence his affidavit Ex.CW1/A and documents Ex.CW1 to Ex.C7 and closed the evidence on 10.11.2018.

4.             On the other hand, OPs tendered into evidence affidavit of Rajinder Kumar SDO Ex.OP/A and documents Ex.OP/1 to Ex.OP/20 and closed the evidence on 15.02.2019.

5.             We have heard the learned counsel for both the parties and perused the case file carefully and have also gone through the evidence led by the parties.

6.             The case of the complainant is that the electric connection bearing account no.LR-15-3682910000 is installed in the house of the complainant. The bill of said electric connection upto 23.01.2015 was Rs.10,806/- including fine and the meter reading was 2409. No bill was issued by OP for some time. The complainant got issued a bill dated 15.10.2015 after visited in the office of OP and the old reading of the said bill was 2510 units and the arrear were Rs.14,882.51/-. OP had prepared the bill for Rs.16,415/- on average of 248 units and Rs.10,000/- were got deposited from the complainant. The next bill from 15.12.2015 to 15.02.2016 was prepared by showing new reading 0 and old reading 122 units for Rs.7603/-. In the bill dated 15.04.2016, the old reading was shown 2510 and new reading was shown as 3694 units by will of OP and bill was prepared of Rs.13,402/- without deducting the previous consumed units of 248 and 122. The complainant moved an application for the correction of this bill dated 15.04.2016 but no action was taken by the OP.

7.             Further, the bill dated 15.06.2016 was sent on the basis of excess reading which was for Rs.13,997/-. The complainant moved an application for the correction of the said bill but the same has not been corrected by the OP. Again on the complaint of the complainant, a bill for the period from 15.06.2015 to 29.06.2016 was prepared for Rs.17,579/- but the bill has not been corrected by the OPs. On 3.10.2016, the complainant made a complaint to OP no.2 but no useful purpose was served and the complainant deposited Rs.10,000/- on the same day. The complainant gave photo copies of the bills which were for 205 days and thereafter a duplicate bill after adding a bill of 406 units was prepared for Rs.11,529/- without making any correction in the previous bills. The total amount of all three bills amounts comes Rs.26,332/- and the complainant has deposited Rs.20,000/- and the remaining amount was Rs.6332/-. The bill dated 15.05.2017 was Rs.11,529/- and the OP had taken an amount of Rs.5196/- more without any reason.

8.             Further, due to the aforesaid act and conduct of the OPs, the complainant has filed a complaint u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act before this Forum vide complaint no.186/2017, which was decided vide order dated 16.02.2018. This Forum directed the OPs to furnish the statement of account of the complainant bearing no.3682910000 from January, 2015 till date within 30 days from the receipt of copy of this order. Further the Forum held that however, after receipt of account statement, if the complainant has any grievance, he is at liberty to file fresh complaint. As per the aforesaid order passed by this Hon’ble Forum, the complainant visited several times to the office of OP and also moved an application dated 8.3.2016 to the OP no.2 and requested to provide the statement of account from January, 2015 as ordered by this Hon’ble Forum. But despite the said application, the OP did not provide the statement of account nor corrected the bill till date.

9.             On the other hand, the case of the OPs is that the complainant knowingly and intentionally has put forward wrong and incorrect facts in the complaint in order to avoid depositing the outstanding bill. The complainant knows very well that the bills raised by the OP department are as per “Actual Meter Reading” as displayed by the electricity meter installed n the premises of the complainant. The present complaint has been filed without ulterior motives to avoid payment of the outstanding bill by the complainant, whereas the said amount is due and payable by the complainant. And the complainant has got no cause of action in his favour and against the OP to file the present complaint. Bill dated 15.04.2016 was prepared after deducting the previously charged units (248 & 122) on average basis. An amount of Rs.2222/- is deducted in the bill dated 15.04.2016 in lieu of charged units on average basis. Similarly, an amount of Rs.10006/- and Rs.3862/- was deducted from the account of complainant, which is clearly reflected in bill dated 16.09.2016 and in revised bill thereafter. Payment charged due to anomaly in reading was duly adjusted as mentioned above.

10.           Admittedly, on 16.02.2018 this Forum has disposed of the previous complaint with the directions to the OPs to the furnish the statement of account of the complainant bearing no.3682910000 from January, 2015 till date within 30 days from the receipt of copy of this order. As per the version of the complainant, OPs failed to supply the same. The OPs filed the written reply of the present complaint and during evidence the OP tendered affidavit of Rajinder Kumar, LDC o/o SDO. Nothing was mentioned in the reply and affidavit submitted by the OP regarding supplying the statement of account of the complainant. Hence, OPs failed to comply the order dated 16.08.2016

11.           In these circumstances, we dispose off the present complaint with the direction to OPs not to charge any pending disputed electricity bills as OPs failed to supply the account statement of the electricity bill to the complainant. We further direct the OPs not to disconnect the electricity connection of the complainant. However, OPs are at liberty to recover the bill amount, if any, from the pocket of defaulting officer/office of the concerned department, who has not supplied the statement of account to the complainant. This order shall be complied with accordingly. The parties concerned be communicated of the order accordingly and the file be consigned to the record room after due compliance.

Announced:

Dated:01.104.2019

                                                                       

                                                                  President,

                                                           District Consumer Disputes

                                                           Redressal Forum, Karnal.

               

        (Vineet Kaushik)                (Dr. Rekha Chaudhary)

            Member                               Member