Mumbai: Compensation of Rs 1 lakh awarded for inflated MTNL bill

MUMBAI: Sixty-seven-year-old retired chief secretary D K Sankaran, who took on the MTNL for leaving him with an inflated international roaming bill of Rs 1.69 lakh when he travelled to Thailand for 30 days in 2014, has been awarded a compensation of Rs 1.15 lakh and refund of the bill amount.
Sankaran told the state consumer commission that the total duration of usage shown in the bill equalled 45,661 hours which is the same as 5.2 years. An expert, an assistant professor who was attached to Remote Centre Co-ordination at KS Somaiya College of Engineering opined that the bill was inflated and that his mobile instrument lacks the capacity to absorb so much data. He deposed inthe case.
The state consumer commission said that MTNL raised the bill on the basis of information received from Thai Authority without verifying it and this was a clear case of deficiency in service and unfair trade practice.
“The mobile service was disconnected on April 11, 2014. Therefore, he could not make contact with anybody resulting into mental distress, loss of reputation and also financial losses. His mobile service was disconnected without any fault... In such circumstances the complainant would be entitled to get compensation,” the state consumer commission said.
Sankaran first moved the district consumer commission in 2014.