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

Agreeing with Delhi-resident L R Kumar that the meter set up at his premises was giving "inaccurate reading", the South West District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum held the DJB guilty of deficient service for not addressing his grievances even after he had moved the civic body under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

"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. (MORE)