President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday directed the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) to refund Rs 139,860 to a complainant who had been wrongly issued an additional demand notice for the installation of an electricity connection along with a transformer due to cost escalation.
The complainant had applied with IESCO for an electricity connection along with a 25 KVA transformer. Subsequently, a demand notice of Rs 305, 656, including the cost of allied material was issued to him. He deposited the amount, however, IESCO instead of installing his connection timely, issued an additional demand notice of Rs 139,860 on account of the escalation of the cost of the material.
The complainant approached IESCO for withdrawal of the demand notice but to no avail. Feeling aggrieved, he approached the Wafaqi Mohtasib for the redressal of his grievance, who passed the order in his favour. IESCO, then, filed a representation against the order of the Mohtasib with the President. Dr Arif Alvi after personally hearing the case and going through the record of the case, directed IESCO to refund the amount to the complainant.
He referred to IESCO’s Consumer Service Manual which provided that once the demand notice had been issued by IESCO and paid by the applicant in full, no further charges/demand notice could be raised on account of the escalation of the cost of the material. The president further noted that as per the manual, IESCO was bound to install the connection within 30 days but it delayed the installation by seven months.
Dr Alvi concluded that Wafaqi Mohtasib’s decision was based on sound reasoning and was sustainable in the eyes of the law. He, therefore, rejected IESCO’s representation and upheld the Mohtasib’s decision.
