Vishnu Prasad Pasari vs Jagdish Chandra Jawle

THESE revision petitions have been filed by the Vishnu Prasad Pasari & Khedapati Estate Developers being aggrieved by the order of the Madhya Pradesh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bhopal in respect of Appeal No. 1580/07 & 1651/07, Appeal No. 1579/07 & 1649/07 and in Appeal No. 2532/07.

THE Petitioners/opposite parties are common in all the Revision Petitions and since the matter pertains to the same colony and under the same terms and conditions, we propose to dispose of three Revision Petitions by one single order by taking the facts from RP No. 2462/2008. Briefly the facts are that the Complainant/Respondent herein had purchased a house in Sriram Nagar Colony which was developed by the Petitioner vide registered sale deed dated 03.05.2003 against a consideration amount of Rs. 1,75,000/-. According to the terms of the sale deed the Petitioner was required to provide permanent water supply and permanent electric connection and also to create necessary infrastructure which was not done. There were also some defects in the construction. Respondent further stated that Petitioners had taken a temporary electricity connection from his house for some period during the construction of houses in the colony and had not settled the bills because of which electricity and water connection to his house had been disconnected by the concerned Authorities.

BEING aggrieved on the above counts Respondent filed a complaint before the District Forum which allowed the same and directed the Petitioners to make available the basic facilities of permanent electricity and water supply to the complainants within two months from the date of order and to pay Rs. 5,000/- for mental agony and Rs. 1,000/- as costs.

NOT satisfied with the order of the District Forum, cross appeals were filed before the State Commission. State Commission dismissed the appeal filed by the petitioner-opposite party and partly allowed the appeal filed by respondents-complainants and issued the following directions:- "(i) The respondent shall pay Rs. 20,000/- as compensation for the mental torture caused to the appellant and Rs. 5,000/- as costs at both the Fora, within a month, failing which interest at the rate of 9% shall be payable additionally on the entire amount from the date of filing of this appeal to the date of actual payment. (ii)ï¿ 1/2 Supply of electricity and water shall be restored to the appellant ''s house within a month failing which penalty @ Rs. 50/- per day shall be payable to the appellant additionally till these amenities are provided. Needless to say that consumption charges on no loss no profit basis shall be paid by the residents including the appellant. (iii) Permanent infrastructure shall be created within 6 months so that the residents including the appellant can have permanent connection of electricity as per clause 3(b) of the sale deed. (iv)Necessary repairs on the house of the appellant shall be done within 3 months. "

Being aggrieved Petitioners have filed these Revision Petitions. On 08.10.2009 Counsel for the Petitioner made a statement that supply of water from the tubewell has been started two days back and sanction of a permanent electric connection had been obtained and till the permanent electricity connection is made available and energized the Petitioners shall pay the difference between the rates of temporary and permanent connections. On 02.02.2012 when the case came up for hearing before us Counsel for the Petitioner filed affidavits stating therein that permanent electricity connection has since been provided to all residents of the colony including the Respondents/Complainants and water is also being supplied through various tubewells of the colony. These affidavits were handed over to the Ld. Counsel for the Respondents and they were directed to file response to the affidavits within four weeks. When the case came up for hearing on 09.05.2012, Counsel for the Respondents contested the submissions made by Counsel for the Petitioner and reiterated that so far as permanent electricity connection is concerned the Petitioner has only deposited the amount for the new connection and that too on 19.08.2011 and the permanent electricity and water connections are still to be provided. Counsel for Petitioner contended as stated in his affidavit that permanent electricity connection has been provided to the residents of the colony and water supply has been provided through various tubewells and, therefore, the order of the State Commission has been complied with. He showed, as a proof, the letter from the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board confirming that permanent electricity connection had been granted.

WE have heard Ld. Counsel for the parties and have gone through the evidence on record. Admittedly, the Petitioners were deficient in providing permanent water and electricity connections as per the sale deed by the stipulated date and also in not settling the bill for the temporary electricity connections to Respondent which no doubt caused avoidable harassment and inconvenience. Keeping in view these facts we agree with the findings of the State Commission that the Petitioners were guilty of deficiency in service and, therefore, confirm the orders of the State Commission directing the Petitioners to pay to the Respondents Rs. 20,000/- as compensation for mental agony and Rs. 5,000/- as costs failing which interest @ 9% shall be payable. However, in view of the fact that electricity and water supply has been restored to the Respondents '' house and permanent electricity connection and satisfactory water supply is also available in the entire colony as per the affidavit and other documents shown to us by Counsel for the Petitioners, we set aside the order of the State Commission directing the Petitioners to pay a penalty of Rs. 50/- per day to the Respondents. Respondents are, however, put at liberty to file the execution before the District Forum for the redressal of their grievances in case they still have any grievances against the Petitioners. These Revision Petitions are disposed of in the above terms.