HARYANA URBAN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Vs. ARJUN DASS POPLI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This First Appeal is directed against the order dismissing the complaint claiming compensation for loss suffered due to fire occasioned on account of explosion of gas cylinder/leakage of gas in Complaint No. 118 decided by State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Karnataka.

(2.) Facts giving an occasion to file this appeal may be stated briefly as under: According to the complainant/appellant on 17/2/1996 at about 2.00 a.m., while he was in deep sleep at his residence "Muthi Laxmi Niwas", he along with others suddenly heard the noise of gas cylinder explosion, woke up and switched on the light and the moment he switched on the light, the entire room engulfed in a bowl of fire. The complainant tried to save his wife and daughter. But in this process he got burn injuries. It also caused extensive damage to his house. The complainant was using L.P. Gas Cylinder of Bharat Petroleum Corpn. at his residence, supplied by dealer M/s. Rohan Gas Distributors. According to the complainant, the incident took place due to leakage of gas. FIR was lodged. The police visited the complainant on 17/2/1996, prepared a statement. According to the complainant, he was in shock and he signed the statement without reading it. Since he suffered burn injuries to the extent of 20%, he was admitted in the hospital and during hospitalisation for 17 days, he incurred an expenditure of Rs. 13,027 towards medicines, hospitalisation charges, etc. The fire damaged the main door, the window, the wiremesh and the glass-panes, curtains, cloths, pants, shirts, sarees, baby dress and sofa set also. His work efficiency was retarded due to burn injuries and scars and white patches on his right arm and palm, etc. According to the complainant/appellant, the fire took place on account of defective regulator of the cylinder.

(3.) The opposite party No. 2, the Rohan Gas Distributor, replaced the cylinder, regulator and the hose-pipe on the date of accident itself in order to cover the track of defective cylinder, regulator and hose-pipe.