Hyderabad: Wrong sim deactivation costs Bharthi Airtel Rs 30,000

Hyderabad: The wrongful deactivation and porting of a SIM card without the consent of the consumer cost Bharti Airtel Rs 30,000. The consumer, Mr Raghavendar Rao of Balkampet in the citiy, had been an Airtel user since 2010 and his connection was terminated in 2015. The SIM card was re-activated within a week but terminated once again within two days.

Mr Rao claimed he had suffered a loss of Rs 16 lakh as a result of the termination of his connection. He booked a case of cheating and intimidation against Airtel at the Mahankali police station and moved the Hyderabad District Consumer Forum.

Airtel representatives told the forum that when the company had offered to reactive his connection, Mr Rao had demanded a fancy number along with a compensation of '10 lakh. They said they were not directly liable as a smaller outlet which represented them had caused the problem. They said that the forum had limited jurisdiction in the matter which came under the purview of the Telegraph Act, 1885 and the consumer would have to approach an arbitrator appointed by Centre.

The forum cited a judgement given in 2012 by the Maharashtra State Consumer Commission to state that it had the jurisdiction. It took note of the fact that Airtel had offered the consumer means to have the connection restored, which the consumer had declined.

The forum ruled in favour of the consumer partially for having had his connection wrongfully deactivated. The compensation claim was reduced from Rs 16 lakh to Rs 30,000 as Mr Rao was unable to provide proof of the losses suffered.