RAM NARESH SINHA Vs. AMITABH KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revision petition has been filed by Dr. Ram Naresh Sinha, Proprietor of M/s. Jyoti Kalash (hereinafter referred as the 'Petitioner') being aggrieved by the order of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bihar (hereinafter referred to as the State Commission") in which Shri Amitabh Kumar who was the original complainant before the District Forum, was the Respondent.

(2.) The facts of the case, according to the Respondent, are that he is a consumer of Indian Oil Corporation for L.P. Gas with JT No. 6946 and Subscriber No. 2246. On 16.2.1991 the said cooking gas connection of the Respondent which was with M/s. S.K. Trading Co., Buan Marg, Patna, came on transfer to M/s. Jyoti Kalash, Gaighat Gulzarbagh, Patna of which the Petitioner was the proprietor. On 16.8.1991 Respondent applied for a second gas cylinder to M/s. Jyoti Kalash as per the rules of the Indian Oil Corporation. The Area Manager of the Indian Oil Corporation also wrote a letter dated 28.9.1993 to the Petitioner authorizing the second gas cylinder. However, instead of supplying the second cylinder, Petitioner stopped the supply of even the first gas cylinder as a result of which since 1993 there has been no gas supply to the Respondent from the Petitioner. Being aggrieved by this arbitrary and unfair action of the Petitioner, Respondent filed a complaint before the District Forum on grounds of deficiency in service and requested that the Petitioner be directed to release the gas connection and pay the Respondent Rs. 75,000 as compensation and Rs. 5,500 as litigation cost,

(3.) Petitioner has denied the above contentions and stated that he was justified in stopping supply of the gas connection because he came to know through reliable sources that the Respondent was a fictitious consumer and he had obtained the T.T.V. from the Indian Oil Corporation by manipulation. Petitioner, therefore, sought relevant information vide letter dated 31.8.1993 from the Respondent which included information as to what was his age, how he initially got the first cylinder, what was his old address, etc. to which the Respondent did not reply. Petitioner further stated that one Ashok Kumar of Anand Bhawan Awas Grih, Fraser Road, Patna had written to the Indian Oil Corporation as well as to Petitioner that he was the bona fide consumer of the said gas connection but unfortunately his papers had got lost which have been mischievously used by someone else to get the connection transferred from M/s. S.K Trading Co. to M/s. Jyoti Kalash. Shri Ashok Kumar also requested the Manager of M/s. Jyoti Kalash to take appropriate action against the fictitious consumer and intimate the action taken. Keeping in view these facts. Petitioner stated that there was no deficiency in service and he had rightly stopped the supply of gas cylinder to the Respondent for the aforesaid reasons.