Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (KSCDRC) has upheld a lower forum order that directed BSNL to pay Rs 12,000 to a telephone booth owner who got a hefty bill in spite of phone remained dead for four months.
As per the complainant by Ambika Mohandas of Kuppakad, Kuzhalmannam, she has been running a public telephone booth named Shreyas Communications since 1999.
In 2010 she got a broadband connection also. Both these lines were out of order from January 5 to April 30, 2014. She registered an online complaint two days later, but no action came for months.
When she sent letters to officials, they replied asking her to pay Rs 4,638 despite the phone remaining dead. With this, she approached Palakkad Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. The BSNL officials claimed that she was not a consumer as she did not have a commercial connection.
However, they accepted that line remained dead due to a highway work. Also, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had paid Rs 20 lakh compensation to BSNL for this.
With this, the forum found that there was a deficiency in service and ordered a payment of Rs 10,000 for losses she suffered in business. Apart from this, Rs 2,000 was to be paid as compensation. The KSCDRC found the judgement fair and did not intervene in the order.
