MTNL to pay Rs 6,000 to two users for inefficiency

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited has been ordered by a consumer court here to pay Rs 6,000 to aggrieved consumers in separate cases for being deficient in service, including non-restoration of connection, despite them having sent repeated reminders.

Complainant Atul Saxena had alleged that his telephone often remained out of order for a long period, and that MTNL did not set it right even after he wrote to the chief general manager and to the Union Communications Minister about it. Noting that MTNL itself had admitted that Saxena’s telephone was not working for 93 days between June 25 and December 13, 2000, the New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum said, ‘‘A telephone is not meant to be a show piece. In a period of five months, if it is out of order for more than three months, MTNL is deficient in service.’’

Rejecting MTNL’s arguments that it could not repair the instrument due to heavy rains, forum president L.C. Jain, members Janak Juneja and R. Narayana directed it to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation along with litigation cost of Rs 500.

In another case, complainant Mohan Lal alleged that inspite of writing to divisional engineer and informing the company through its computerised complaint system, MTNL did not rectify telephone. The court asked MTNL to pay Lal compensation of Rs 1,000. The forum also directed MTNL to waive off the rent charges from the day the telephone went out of order till the date the connection was set right.