The Dakshina Kannada District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Reliance Communication to pay a compensation of ₹15,000 to a consumer for disconnecting his cellphone service without prior intimation.
In the complaint to the Forum, Ramachandra B, a resident of Kuriaya from Puttur and owner of a small scale industrial unit, said that he purchased a CDMA cellphone of Reliance Communication by paying ₹1,800.
He could only operate the cellphone till January 9, 2016, after which the service was disconnected.
When he contacted the telecom company’s office in Gorigudde in Mangaluru, Mr. Ramachandra was asked to submit a fresh set of mandatory documents.
Though he submitted documents, the telecom company failed to restore connection and Mr. Ramachandra filed a complaint with the forum seeking compensation.
The company said that Regulatory Term Cell Team of the Department of Telecommunication regularly does random verification of documents submitted by consumers for issuance of cellphone connection.
The company said documents regarding Mr. Ramachandra was among the few picked up for verification in January 2016.
The team found mismatch of “Mandatory fields - No/Improper POS name/address/code details and customer signature mismatch in CAF and driving licence”.
The company said it sent three messages to Mr. Ramachandra on his cellphone on January 7, 8 and 9 of 2016 intimating about the mismatch. As Mr. Ramachandra failed to respond, the connection was disconnected, it said.
In the judgement on May 26, forum president Vishweshwara Bhat D. and Lavanya M. Rai said that the telecom company has failed to submit proof that the disconnection of service was on the behest of Regulatory Term Cell Team.
The company also failed to submit proof of sending three messages to Mr. Ramachandra.
The forum directed Reliance Communication to pay a compensation of ₹15,000 and a legal cost of ₹10,000 to Mr. Ramachandra, within 30 days.
If the company failed to make the payment, it will be liable to pay ₹15,000 with interest of 7 % from the date of complaint till the date of payment, the forum noted.
