Adjust wrongly charged garbage collection fees in future bill, says Chandigarh Municipal Corporation
District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Chandigarh has directed the city Municipal Corporation to adjust Rs 1,000 charged wrongly in the future bills of door-to-door garbage collection.
75-year-old RL Arora, resident of Sector 21-A, Chandigarh, in the complaint filed before the commission said that he is residing as a tenant at the top floor of the house.
Two water meters are installed for the occupants of the house. One meter is for the occupants of the ground floor and first floor, and the second water meter is exclusively for the top floor of the house.
The door-to-door garbage collection service was previously provided by the Residents Welfare Association, Sector 21, Chandigarh, and the association provided the service upto March 31, 2021.
He paid Rs 900 to the association for one year till March 2021.
Thereafter, a private service provider provided the service for the months of April and May 2021 at Rs 100 per month.
Arora said that he received a water bill dated June 25, 2021, from Municipal Corporation for the top floor which mentioned an amount of Rs 1,000 as arrears of door-to-door garbage collection charges for the period of January to May.
Arora added that he told the MC that the garbage collection service was provided from the last week of June 2021 and arrears charged in the bills for the period January to May are unjustified as well as unlawful.
He requested the MC for redressal of the grievances but there has been no response from them.
On the other hand, the MC justified the bill.
The MC said that as per the bylaws if any person is not satisfied with the bills he can file an appeal to appellate authority designated by the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh. But the complainant did not follow the bylaws.
After hearing the arguments, the commission said that it is clear that the complainant has got the garbage collection done for 5 months from private operators, after making necessary payment to them.
In view of this, the MC is directed to adjust Rs 1,000 in the further bills to be raised for the garbage collection.
