DJB to pay Rs 15K compensation to customer for wrong billing

“We are led to the irresistible conclusion that the grievance as expressed by complainant (Kumar) in his letter of March 29,2010 is quite justified,because the replaced meter was giving inaccurate reading than the actual consumption of water by him.

“The opposite party (DJB) failed to redress his justified grievance despite the complainant having approached them under the RTI Act. We find the DJB gravely deficient-in-service.

Hence,they are liable to compensate the complainant for all the harassment and mental agony suffered by him,” the bench presided by Narendra Kumar said.

In his complaint,L R Kumar had alleged that the bill of Rs 13,290 sent to him for the period from December 6,2009 to February 2,2010 was inaccurate and inflated as it showed that he had consumed 484 kilo litres (484 thousand litres) of water during the said two month period.

Kumar,in his plea to teh forum,had said that he had lodged a complaint with the DJB,pointing out that the bill was inflated as the water meter installed at his residence was faulty and had sought its replacement with a new one.

As DJB did not respond to his complaint,he also filed an RTI application but the reply to it did not satisfied him and he moved the forum.

The DJB,in its defence,had contended that the reading recorded by the meter was the actual water consumption.

Observing that it was “un-imaginable and illogical” that any residential premises could consume “such huge amount” (484 KL) of water in two months,the forum directed the DJB to pay Kumar Rs 10,000 as compensation for harassment and Rs 5,000 as litigation costs.

The forum also noted that while the case was pending before it,Kumar was forced to deposit the Rs 13,290 which he was not liable to pay.

“He had come to this forum for redressal and was subjected to forcible deposit of a sum of Rs 13,290 without being liable to pay the same,” the bench said.

The forum further observed that though the billing summary submitted before it showed the meter as ‘OK’,the reading recorded by the DJB was inaccurate as there was substantial difference in the consumption during various billing cycles.

“We find that most of the time the reading recorded was inaccurate because sometimes it was 42 or 49 KL for three months and sometimes it was 206 or 484 KL for three months,” it said.

It also concluded that the monthly consumption by Kumar would be around 35 kilo litres on the basis of the last meter reading and directed the DJB to “raise the bill for any unpaid period on average basis of 35 KL consumption per month”.

“The last reading reported by the meter-reader for 13 days is only 15 KL and if this reading is made the basis for average calculation,consumption of water by the Kumar will not come to more than 35 KL per month,” the forum said.

The bench also directed the DJB that the future bills be raised on the basis of actual reading and added that if Kumar was not satisfied with the running of the meter he should immediately get it tested by paying Rs 100.