Orissa

Debagarh

CC/43/2019

Prabhat Kumar Pradhan, age 58 years, S/O-Late Arjun Mohan Pradhan - Complainant(s)

Versus

Sudhansu Bhol, Owner-GULMOHAR - Opp.Party(s)

03 Feb 2020

ORDER

BEFORE THE PRESIDENT, DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, DEOGARH

C.C NO-43/2019

Present- Sri Dipak Kumar Mahapatra, President, Smt. Jayanti Pradhan, Member (W) and Smt. Arati Das, Member.

 

Prabhat Kumar Pradhan, age 58 years,

S/O-Late Arjun Mohan Pradhan,

At-Pandasahi, Deogarh

P.O/P.S/Dist-Deogarh.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               …      Complainant.

                                                    Vrs.

Sudhansu Bhol,

Owner- GULMOHAR,

Plot No-1150-A,Near Krishnakunj Apartments,

Unit No-9, Bhubaneswar-751022.                                                             …        O.P

 

Counsels Present:-

For the Complainant:-        Nemo

For the O.P    :-                     None

 

DATE OF HEARING: 21.01.2020, DATE OF ORDER: 03.02.2020.

Sri Dipak Kumar Mahapatra, President-         Brief facts of this case is that the Complainant has booked a room in the Hostel of the O.P on dtd. 01.08.2018 and paid an amount of Rs.14,000/- as advance for the stay of his son who was admitted in Utkal University Law College at Bhubaneswar. But as the Complainant managed to get another hostel room near the University, he cancelled the booking made with the O.P. The Complainant visited the O.P on dtd. 02.08.2018 and requested him to refund the amount he has paid at the time of booking as advance. The O.P refunded an amount of Rs.7,000/- by the way of cheque on dtd. 04.08.2018. But when the Complainant repeatedly asked to refund the rest amount of  Rs.7,000/-, the O.P denied to refund the same stating the reason that he has provided 60 sq. ft  of rooms to each student/intern having all the facilities like bathrooms, water coolers, table, chairs which costs Rs.20/per sq.ft. Once a room is booked and cancelled thereafter, it lies vacant for the whole year which costs him a lot.  But any way the O.P has refunded another Rs.3,500/- to the Complainant but kept Rs. 3,500/- with him to compensate his loss towards cancellation of booking. But the Complainant claims that his son has not stayed or use the room even for one hour, so the O.P should refund the Complainant the full amount which was paid in advance.

POINTS OF DETERMINATION:-

1. Whether the Complainant is comes under the purview of Consumer Protection Act.1986?
2. Whether this Forum has jurisdiction to try this case?
3. Whether the O.Ps has committed any Deficiency in Service and unfair trade practice to the Complainant?

From the above discussion and material available on records we inferred that the Complainant comes under the purview of consumer of the O.P as he has booked a room in the hostel of the O.P with an advance payment of Rs. 14,000/-. Again on the other day when the O.P refunded a sum of Rs.7,000/- to the Complainant, he assured/promised to refund the rest amount of Rs.7,000/-  after 2 to 3 days. The Complainant then returned to his native village at Deogarh and made several telephonic contact with the O.P to refund the rest amount of money lying with the O.P. But when the O.P refunded Rs.3,500/-  and denied to refund the full amount, the cause of action arose at Deogarh i.e in the territorial jurisdiction of this Forum. Hence this Forum has jurisdiction to try this case. Again it is clearly observed from the complaint, that the Complainant did not enjoy the service of the room for even a day/hour and there is no such agreement between the customer/Complainant and the service provider/O.P. The booking was cancelled without any delay and there is no proof or evidence produced by the O.P that the said room of the Hostel remained vacant from 01.08.2018 to 04.08.2018 or for some more days. The O.P made an illegal attempt to grab the advance amount without providing any service to the Complainant. The O.P has not mentioned anything specific in the money receipt regarding the refund of advance money in the event of cancellation of booking or such terms or condition does not seems to be accepted by the Complainant. It is implied that the condition of non refundable was unilateral condition without acceptance of the Complainant. Failure or negligence on the part of the service provider/O.P to notify the specific terms of cancellation with deduction or forfeiture of any advance payment in case of booking of hostel room is itself a unfair trade practice in the present case. However the O.P/service provider may have deducted Rs.500/- as per the law of equity but not more than this may be permitted to deduct. This matter has been well settled in the case of N.D. Guest House v/s Jugal Kishore Sadani decided On, 04 February 2016 by  West Bengal State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Kolkata. Hence we reached to conclusion that, the O.P has committed Deficiency in Service u/s-2(1)(g) and Unfair Trade Practice u/s-2(1)(r) with the Complainant according to the Consumer Protection Act-1986. Hence we order as under.

                         

                       ORDER

The Complaint Petition is allowed. Under the circumstances we hereby direct the O.P to refund the unpaid amount of Rs.3,500/- lying with him to the Complainant. Further the O.P is directed to pay an amount of Rs.2,000/- (Rupees Two Thousand) as compensation towards mental pain & agony and Rs. 1,000/- (Rupees One Thousand) towards the cost of litigation.  All the above direction are to be complied within 30 (Thirty) days from receipt of this order, failing which, the Complainant is at liberty to proceed in due process of law.         

Office is directed to supply the free copies of the order to the parties receiving acknowledgement of the delivery of thereof.

Order pronounced in the open court today i.e. 3^rd day of February, 2020 under my hand and seal of this Forum.

 

            I      agree,                             I     agree,

                                   

       MEMBER(W).                           MEMBER.                              PRESIDENT.

 

Dictated and Corrected

  by me.

 

PRESIDENT.