SANJAY KUMAR vs Vinod Kumar Yadav

-PETITIONER was the opposite party before the District Forum, where the respondent/complainant had filed a complaint alleging deficiency in service on the part of the petitioner.

UNDISPUTED facts of the case are that the respondent/complainant had deposited 407. 07 quintal of potato with the Laxmi Cold Storage (P.) Ltd. , Sohsarai for which receipt was issued. The cold storage charges were also paid by cheque, by the respondent/complainant. It was some time in November 2003 that the petitioner came to know that the potatoes stored by him have germinated and large quantity of potatoes has rotten which he saw himself as well. It was the case of the complainant that this was on account of storing excess quantity of potatoes than the capacity of the cold storage, and poor maintenance of the cold storage. When the complainant demanded compensation and the petitioner was not forthcoming in this regard and when the matter was not getting settled, a complaint was filed before the District Forum, who by a majority judgment returned the complaint for filing it before a competent Fora. Aggrieved by this order, an appeal was filed before the State Commission, who after hearing the parties and relying upon the material on record allowed the complaint and directed the petitioner to pay an amount of Rs. 2,03,500 being the cost of the 407 quintals of potatoes @ Rs. 500 per quintal minus Rs. 10,000 as carrying charges and rent due to the petitioner. Aggrieved by this order, the petitioner has filed this revision petition before us. We heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner and the complainant/respondent in person. The basic facts are not in dispute that 407 quintals of potatoes were stored and when the petitioner went to see these stored material it was found to be germinated. The plea of the petitioner before the State Commission was not accepted by the State Commission that any notice was given to the respondent/complainant to retrieve the stock.

The main point agitated before us by the learned Counsel for the petitioner is that the State Commission should have first decided the point of jurisdiction as the District Forum has dismissed the complaint on that ground. It was also his case that no evidence has been led by any of the parties about the price of the potatoes at the relevant date and State Commission has erred in arriving at the figure at Rs. 500 more so that this price was relatable to ''new'' crop, whereas admittedly, the stored potatoes in the cold storage of the petitioner was one year old, hence the order of the State Commission cannot be sustained.

WE have seen the majority order passed by the District Forum, wherein it was held that the case involves complicated question and also involves mixed question of fact and law, hence it cannot be gone into by the District Forum in its summary jurisdiction. After hearing the learned Counsel for the petitioner we are of the view that it has been severally held by this Commission as well as by the Hon''ble Supreme Court that the District Fora and State Commissions are headed by retired District Judges as well as the Judges of the Hon''ble High Courts, hence even complicated questions could be gone into by these Fora. If the District Forum found it complicated and the State Commission in appeal found that the matter is not complicated and can be gone into after going through the material brought on record, no fault can be found with the order passed by the State Commission as by inference it has dismissed this plea of the District Forum that Consumer Fora cannot entertain such a complaint.

AS regards the price of the potatoes, an authoritative report on prices for potato valid for the month of November 2003 maintained by Mandi Authorities is on record. This is the authoritative report, which the country has to accept as the ''marketing yards'' are statutory bodies under the law. A plain perusal of material brought on record clearly shows that the average price of the potatoes from 1. 11. 2003 to 17. 11. 2003 was Rs. 300 per quintal and 18. 11. 2003 onwards till 28. 11. 2003, largely the price was Rs. 500 per quintal on an average except that the price came down for 29 and 30. 11. 2003 to Rs. 480 and Rs. 470 per quintal respectively. Hence broad inference would be that the price of the pototoes ranged from Rs. 300 to Rs. 500 in the month of November 2003, i. e. , the relevant period in question. In view of this, to do equity between the parties, we intend to average the daily price available for the month of November 2003 as a whole, which as per record ranged between Rs. 300 per quintal for 17 days and approximately Rs. 500 per quintal for the second fortnight, thus, on an average basis the price could be said to be Rs. 400 per quintal for the month of November 2003 and it is this price which the respondent/complainant shall be entitled to as against Rs. 500 per quintal fixed by the State Commission. We have also carefully gone through the price list and it is clear that only on 18. 11. 2003 the word ''naya'' (new) in Hindi has been written. There is no such entry with regard to the price on any other date. Hence, we are unable to accept the contention of the learned Counsel for the petitioner, that the prices were for new crop of potatoes, as one odd entry in 30 entries will not create any doupt in our mind that the prices were not for potatotes per se, in view of which we find no merit in this contention. In the aforementioned circumstances, the respondent/complainant shall be entitled to a compensation of Rs. 1,52,800 (Rs. 1,62,800 - Rs. 10,000 for mental and other charges ). We are told that in compliance of our order dated 18. 2. 2006, the petitioner had deposited an amount of Rs. 1,50,000 with the District Forum, Nalanda. The respondent/complainant is entitled to withdraw this amount along with accrued interest that, in our view, will settle the issue and bring the litigation to an end. We are also told that the District Forum, Nalanda (Biharsharif) is not functional, hence the Secretary of the District Forum is directed to release the amount deposited by the petitioner along with the accrued interest to the respondent/complainant within a period of 4 weeks of the receipt of this order. The revision petition stands disposed of in above terms. A copy of this order be sent to the Secretary of the District Forum, Bhiharsharif, Nalanda, Bihar. R. P. disposed of.