GENERAL MANAGER TELECOM JAIPUR Vs. RADHEY SHYAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this revision petition No. 106 of 1995 the General Manager, Telecom, Jaipur, petitioner herein, has pleaded that the decision of the State Commission, Rajasthan, in Appeal No. 518 of 1993, Radhey Shy am v. General Manager, Deptt. of Telecommunication, M.I. Road, Jaipur, was ex-parte decision and that they were not given any opportunity to present their views before them. Briefly the facts are that Mr. Radhey Shyam having a telephone No. 72628 at his residence complaint that this telephone has been out of order from time to time and inspite of that, he has been receiving inflated bills which could not be supported by the Telephone Department and which were mainly due to defect in the metering equipment.

(2.) IN their order, the State Commission has mentioned that an appearance was put on behalf of the Telephone Department through Mr. Rafiq, Advocate on 5.10.93, but in the later hearings neither any representative of the Department nor any Counsel appeared, and therefore, after hearing the appellant's Counsel at length and on perusing the record of the District Forum the case was decided ex-parte. The State Commission in their decision has awarded an amount of Rs. 5,000/- to the telephone subscriber for not removing the defect in his telephone No. 72628 promptly and another sum of Rs. 7,000/- for sending to him excessive and inflated telephone bills based on the readings of a defective meter. In all, the Telephone Department has been asked to pay a total compensation of Rs. 12,000/- for not removing the fault in his telephone promptly and for sending inflated bills to him.

(3.) AS the Telecommunications Department has produced the fault cards etc. before the District Forum and in their written version also, it is necessary that the facts of this case are verified in their totality, taking into account the pleadings of both the complainant and the Department. Such a course is only fair and in the interest of justice. Hence, we remand this case back to the State Commission for giving an opportunity to both the parties to substantiate their allegations and direct them to appear before the State Commission, Rajasthan to seek directions from it in regard to the further hearing of this case. The parties are to bear their own costs.