District Consumer Forum, Bokaro.
Complaint Case No. 19 of 2008
Kapileshwar Das s/o Shri H.P. Das
R/o Qr. No.- 2092, Sector-4/D, Bokaro Steel City
Dist.- Bokaro.-827004.
Versus
Deputy General Manager,
B.S.N.L. Bokaro, Dist.- Bokaro.
Before-
S.M.Alam, President
Vijay Bahadur Singh, Member
Shabnam Praveen, Member
Date of Judgment-: 03, February, 2009
Date of case filing-: 04 March, 2008
-: Judgment:-
The complainant has filed this case against the opposite party and sought direction against him to file corrected bill before the Forum besides payment of compensation of Rs. 20000/- and cost of litigation of Rs. 10000/- to the complainant.
2 Brief facts of the case is that the complainant is the consumer of Telephone connection No. 231677. The Telephone bill received by the complainant till 2007 was correct but from 2004 the opposite party always sent wrong bills and ultimately the complainant stopped payment of those defective bills. The complainant several times requested the opposite party though letters to get the defective bill corrected and furnish detail chart of the said bill which was never submitted by the opposite party. The defective bills are vide bill No. 335198881 dated 18.11.04, Bill No. 27373700 dated 18.05.2004, Bill No. 30903395 dated 18.09.04 and Bill No. 28847873 dated 18.07.2004, the total bills are Rs. 134999/- which is defective as well as wrong. The complainant also sent several letters to the high authority of the opposite party, as well as served legal notice through his lawyer. However the opposite party sent reply of the said legal notice which was not satisfactory, therefore, the opposite party is deficient and negligent in providing service, as such they are liable to compensate the mental and physical harassment of the complainant and also filed a correct bill of the aforesaid period in the Forum.
3 After issuance of notice the opposite party appeared and filed their written statement in which allegation of the complainant has been denied. The opposite party also asserted that all the four aforesaid mentioned bills are time barred and on this ground the present consumer case is not maintainable in this Forum. It has been further mentioned that all the calls have been made from the Telephone No. 231677 of the complainant and it cannot be believe that the complainant or his family members have not used the Telephone. The Telephone bills have been prepared as per meter reading during disputed period and all the bills are correct. There was no defect in the Telephone Exchange/Meter equipments during the disputed period. The complainant was defaulter and in order to avoid payment of outstanding dues of Telephone bills he has filed this false case. There is no deficiency in service on the part opposite party and hence the case is liable to be dismissed.
4 Heard both the parties and perused the case records and documents filed by them. It is observed that the complainant has filed a copy of the bill dated 18.11.2004 in respect of his Telephone No. 231667 for Rs. 13468/-. In the said bill amount of Rs. 39473/- against bill dated 18.05.2004, Rs. 45451/- against bill dated 18.07.04 and Rs. 36607/- against bill dated 18.09.04 have been shown as outstanding. It is further found that the complainant has not filed copies of any other bill prior to the above bill dates.
5 After going through entire case records we have come to the conclusion that the amounts shown as outstanding against bill dates 18.05.04, 18.07.04 and 18.09.04 are abnormally high as compared to the amount of bill dated 18.11.04. The opposite party did not correct the above bills after matter was taken up by the complainant. We, therefore, hold the opposite party negligent and deficient in service towards the complainant and as such it is held liable to pay relief to the complainant.
6 under the facts and circumstances of the case the opposite party is directed to correct the bills dated 18.05.2004, 18.07.2004 and 18.09.2004 in respect of the Telephone No. 231667 of the complainant at par with his bill dated 18.11.2004 and to reissue the corrected bills dated 18.05.2004, 18.07.2004 and 18.09.2004 in respect of the Telephone No. 231667 accordingly to the complainant within 30 days from the date of this order. The opposite party is also directed to pay compensation of Rs. 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only) to the complainant within 30 days from the date of this order.
Member (lady) Member President