SURESH CHANDER SHARMA vs Union of India

BY this complaint, the complainant has prayed for a compensation of Rs. 5,00,000/- on account of wrongful disconnection of his Telephone No. 211245.

THE complainant is an Advocate by profession and is practising in the District Courts and High Court of Himachal Pradesh for the last many years. THE complainant was subscriber of Telephone No. 211245 which was installed in his office-cum-residence in Kasumpti Bazar by the respondents. It appears that a new telephone No. 220245 has been given to this telephone which is apparent from the affidavit now filed by the respondents dated 6.5.97. According to the complainant, his telephone went out of order of and on and on 11.12.94, it was disconnected arbitrarily by the opposite party. THE complainant, being a Lawyer, on the instructions of his client Smt. Sulochana filed a suit against the respondents in the Court of Sub-Judge (3) Shimla which is pending consideration and on account of which the Telephone Authorities wanted to harass the complainant. Since he was paying bills regularly, there was no reason for disconnecting the telephone of the complainant and that this matter was brought to the notice of the Tele phone Authorities but unfortunately, on one pretext or the other, they did not restore the telephone till 10.1.95. In other words, this telephone remained disconnected from 11.12.94 till 7.1.95 which is apparent from the rejoinder filed by the complainant and there does not appear to be any dispute about the dues during the period for which the telephone remained disconnected. Further, according to the complainant, during second week of December, 1994, the wife of his real brother Smt. Rekha died at Ahmedabad and due to wrongful disconnection of his telephone from 11.12.94, the complainant was put to lot of inconvenience as he had to avail STD facility from public booth time and again to contact his brother and other relations to be informed about death and last rites to be performed of the deceased Smt. Rekha. According to the complainant, the complainant made verbal enquiries from the respondent-Department for the cause of disconnection. However, no satisfactory reply came forward from the Telephone Department. Since the complainant has been paying all the telephone bills regularly duly supported by the receipt thereto, his telephone was ultimately restored on 10.1.95. According to the complainant, he has suffered huge loss in his professional business as an Advocate and had suffered harassment, mental tension and agony for such a long period and more particularly he could not contact his brother at Ahmedabad because of death of the wife of his real brother and he had to come to public telephone booth to inform him time and again and apprise him of all the developments in the house. The Telephone Authorities have taken inconsistent stand. In the reply they have stated that the telephone was disconnected as the Telephone Exchange had some fault because of shifting of telephone lines from one Exchange to another and the telephone was restored after removing the fault. It was also admitted that the complainant had made payment of all the bills and nothing was due from him. In the affidavit filed by the respondent on 6.5.97 in compliance of the directions of this Commission that the Telephone Authorities will make a specific averment whether or not the telephone of the complainant was disconnected on account of non payment of the bills, they have admitted that the complainant has paid the bills regularly. However, according to the respondents, the receipts were not shown by the complainant and hence the telephone was disconnected. In other words, they have admitted that the telephone has been disconnected because of non payment of the bills. However, on the insistence of the complainant that there is no occasion to disconnect the telephone when he had been paying the bills regularly, the telephone of the complainant was restored by the Telephone Authorities at later stage without any restoration charges.

From the aforementioned facts, it is evident and is even not disputed that the complainant had been making the payment of the bills regularly and nothing was due against him. The respondents also did not inform the subscriber about the disconnection on account of non-payment of the bills and the telephone was abruptly disconnected. Further with a view to mislead the Court, the respondents even went to the extent of taking an entirely different stand that the telephone has been disconnected because of some fault in telephone exchange owing to shifting of telephone lines from one Exchange to another which is not supported by any evidence. The action of the Telephone Authorities, therefore, in these circumstances has necessarily to be termed as arbitrary and unreasonable and we are of the opinion that in such circumstances, the complainant is entitled to compensation as he has suffered in his professional business and also mental agony and harassment, as discussed above.

THE complainant being a Lawyer by profession, no doubt, has not only suffered actual loss in professional business but such loss can also be recurring because of the disconnection of telephone for almost a month and there cannot also be two opinions that due to disconnection of such telephone the complainant must have suffered physical, mental agony and harassment. In these aforementioned facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the opinion that ends of justice shall be met, in case the complainant is awarded compensation of Rs. 10,000/- for disconnection of his telephone for the aforementioned period. We are fortified in taking this view in a case Dr. Azeemur Rehman Siddiqui v. Union of India & Others, AIR 1995 All. 317, whereby Allahabad High Court has awarded Rs. 20,000/- as compensation to a Doctor in similar circumstances.

IN the light of what is discussed above, the respondents are directed to pay Rs. 10,000/- as compensation to die complainant. The cost of Rs. 500/- is also awarded. This amount shall be payable within three weeks. Complaint allowed with costs. ______________