Consumer Forum: Cable service provider fined for excess charge

Team Udayavani, Jul 8, 2019, 3:15 PM IST

Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada District Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum has imposed fine on a cable service provider found to have been charged over and above the actual charges the company is authorized to levy.

In the case filed by a consumer, the forum fined imposed fine of Rs 13,000 on SAT-1, a cable TV service provider after it was proved guilty of charging over and above the specified fee for the channels.

The plaintiff, Laxmikanth of Vaidyanatha Nagar at Attavar had procured cable TV service from SAT-1 service provider. He had opted for certain television channels at the prescribed monthly rate of Rs 300. However, when he tried to view cricket matches through Star network sometime later, he could not access the channel. He contacted the service provider regarding this and instead was asked to pay Rs 20 extra to be able to view the said channel. Since he refused to pay, he was not given access to the said channel.

The initial notices sent by the fourm were not acknowledged by the cable service provider. Later he appeared before the forum. After deliberation, the forum concluded that the plaintiff, had suffered on account of deficiency of service by the channel service provider, ordered SAT-1 cable service to provide Star TV channel to the petitioner without charging anything extra. Additionally, it asked the accused to also pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 and court cost of Rs 3,000. A month’s period has been given as deadline to pay the dues from the date of the pronouncement of this order.