M/S. Indane Swarupjyoti Vs. Tarun Kumar Sajjan and Others - Court Judgment

 Jagannath Bag, LD Member:

1. The present appeal is directed against the Order dated 05.12.2012 of the Ld. District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, North 24 Parganas, in CC Case No. 15/2007, whereby Ld. Forum below allowed the complaint on contest with cost of Rs. 5,000/- against all OPs jointly and severally.

2. The complaint case, in brief, was as follows:           The Complainants (1-6) were customers of Indane Domestic LPG under Auro Gas Services,  Media, P.S. Swarupnagar , Dist.  North 24 Parganas from 2000-2001 to 2006. A new LPG service centre i.e. M/s Indane Swarupjyoti being opened within the Swarupnagar Block, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. issued an order of Block Transfer of customers. Names of the Complainants were transferred to M/s. Indane Swarupjyoti of Swarupnagar Block which is about 25 Kms. away from the Complainants places of residence . That was  in violation of the agreement about supply of LPG cylinder between M/s. Auro Gas Services  of Gobordanga and the Complainant customers. Such action on the part of the OPs having created great hardship , they filed a petition of complaint before the Ld. Forum below for ensuring supply of domestic gas from their nearest distributor i.e., M/s Auro Gas Services  of Gobordanga .

3. The complaint was contested by the OPs who submitted, inter alia, that though distancewise  the Complainants are close to M/s Auro Gas Services , Gobordanga , the village , Media , falls under Swarupnagar Development Block and  is within the area of operation of the newly commissioned distributor i.e. M/s Indane Swarupjyoti and that, as per policy of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., transfer has been made to the newly commissioned distributor within Swarupnagar Development Block . LPG cylinders being delivered at the consumers door step , question of easy availability of cylinder from the old distributor does not arise . Moreover , M/s Indane Swarupjyoti has been serving about 700 customers uninterruptedly and the distance may not be any problem for the transferred customers i.e., the Complainants  and the said transfer of customers from M/s Auro Gas Service to M/s  Indan Swarupjyoti  has been made with a view to providing better service as per the policy of the Indian Oil Corporation and such decision of transfer was taken after discussion with both the distributors and the consumers of the village Media.

4. Ld. Forum below having  considered all material facts and evidence  observed that  the act of the OPs was completely  against the spirit of the letter dated 02.01.2002 of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas  and more so , because of the statement vide Paragraph (V) of the said letter addressed to the Director (M) IOC / BPC / HPC Mumbai and the Director (P) IBP Company Ltd., Kolkata stating that the transfer of customers need to be effected from the adjacent distributors as far as possible to avoid the inconvenience to the customers as well as to prevent criss “ cross movement of cylinders .

5. It was ordered by the Ld. Forum below that the Gas connection of the Complainants must not be transferred from M/s Auro Gas Service of Gobordanga to M/s Indane Swarupjyoti . It was further ordered that if in the meantime the Gas connection of the Complainants is transferred to M/s Indane Swarupjyoti , the same shall be  retransferred to M/s Auro Gas Service of Gobordanga from M/s Indane Swarupjyoti of Swarupnagar to give proper service to the Complainants failing which a penalty of Rs.500/- per day shall be assessed till full satisfaction and compliance of the order.

6. Being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the Order of the Ld. Forum below , the Appellant , namely, M/s Indane Swarupjyoti have come up before this Commission stating, inter alia , that the OPs / Proforma Respondents having not preferred any appeal against the impugned order , the interest of the Appellant has been seriously affected by the impugned order and hence the appeal.7. We have gone through the Memorandum of Appeal , the impugned order , the petition of complaint , written version filed on behalf of the OPs before the Ld. Forum below , and other documents including the Letter No. P “ 20012 / 65 / 2000 “ Mkt, Govt of India, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, dated , February 1 , 2002 and copy of Indane Distributorship Agreement between M/s Indane Swarupjyoti and Senior Area Manager , Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. Brief notes of argument have been filed by the Appellant. Ld. Advocates appearing for the Appellant and the Respondent have been heard.

8. Ld. Advocate appearing for the Appellant , submitted that none of  the OPs carry on business within the jurisdiction of North 24 Parganas and the entire cause of action is beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the Ld. Forum below and on that ground  Ld. Forum below did not have  any authority to pass any declaratory order . In citing the order of the Honble National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Revision Petition No. 342 of 2012 , it was emphasized  that District Forum has no jurisdiction to pass any declaratory decree . In the present case Ld. District Forum has, going beyond their jurisdiction, decreed a declaratory order which is not within their jurisdiction. Hence, the impugned order should be set aside.  9. Ld. Advocate appearing for the Respondents submitted that the consumers of M/s Auro Gas Services have been shifted to M/s Indane Swarupjyoti which is about 25 Kms away from the present place of residence of the consumers. This is a gross deficiency in service  and beyond the contract which was struck with  M/s Auro Gas Services at the beginning of LPG connection provided to the Complainants.

                                                                          Decision with reasons

The fact goes that the Complainants who are all inhabitants of Swarupnagar Block were enjoying their Gas connection from M/s Auro Gas Service lying within  Gobordanga  Block. There must have been some contract between the said Complainants and the Indane Gas supplier , namely , M/s Auro Gas Service of Gobardanga and by virtue of such contract they earned the status of consumers under the said Gas service provider . The Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, by their policy decision directed the OPs / Proforma Respondents to implement the policy of Block transfer of consumers which resulted in the transfer of names of the Complainants to the jurisdiction of M/s Indane Swarupjyoti. The Complainants felt inconvenienced  with the implementation of the policy decision of the Indian Oil Corporation which was a cause of action against the OPs. Such cause of action arose within the jurisdiction of the Ld. District Consumer Forum,  North 24 Parganas and as such the submission of the Appellant that the impugned order suffered from lack of jurisdiction does not stand.

It is seen that none of the OPs, Proforma Respondents herein, filed any appeal against the impugned order . On the contrary, they have , as stated by the Complainants / Respondents themselves vide their written submission dated 02.08.2013 that the OPs have already carried out the impugned order dated 05.12.2012 of the Ld. Forum below without challenging the order.

At this juncture we reserve our comment as to whether a declaratory order can be issued by the Ld. District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum as pointed out by the Appellant in the line of decision of the Honble National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Revision Petition No. 342/2012 . The submission of the Appellant that the Complainants have filed a Civil Suit before the Ld. Court of Second Civil Judge ( Junior Division ) at Barasat, bearing Title Suit No. 39 of 2007 on the self same ground and the same is still pending for final adjudication also does not help in reversing the impugned order which has since been carried out by the concerned parties.In the said circumstances, we are of the considered view that the appeal  does not succeed .

Hence,

                                                               Ordered

That the appeal be and the same is dismissed on contest . The impugned order is confirmed. There shall be no order as to costs.