The Hindu         22.03.2011

Consumer organisation demands refund of water connection deposit

Coimbatore Consumer Cause has written to the Assistant Director of Town Panchayat seeking refund of deposit for a person who changed the water connection from commercial to domestic.

In a release, he said N.R. Rajan, a resident of Sirumugai, while constructing his house applied for water connection under ‘commercial tariff' category by paying Rs. 8,000 as deposit. The Sirumugai Town Panchayat charged him Rs. 100 as monthly user charges.

After the completion of the house, the local body assessed his house for property tax on June 7, 2008. Soon thereafter it also converted the nature of water connection from commercial to domestic and reduced the monthly user charges from Rs. 100 to Rs. 50.

But when Mr. Rajan requested for refund of Rs. 4,000 from the Rs. 8,000 deposited, citing the change in the nature of connection, the town panchayat administration flatly refused to do so.

His complaint remained unsettled since July 29, 2008. After his two reminders, the town panchayat council passed a resolution (No. 138) saying the deposit collected would not be refunded even after conversion from one category to another.

Consumer Cause's Secretary K. Kathirmathiyon said that the stand of the civic body was surprising given the fact that it had agreed to reduce the monthly user charges. He said that many local bodies within the district had refunded the deposit collected when the water connection was changed from one category to another.

He pointed out that even the Sirumugai Town Panchayat had returned a part of the deposit money in similar situations in the past.

The local body's stand was against the principle of natural justice, illegal and against rules as well. Not refunding deposit was a deficiency in service, he said and added that the complainant, Mr. Rajan, was entitled to interest with suitable damages.