1 week Ago By Bagish Jha
Gurgaon: Haryana Right to Service Commission (HRTSC) has ordered Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation to a consumer for "undue mental harassment" caused by delays in granting an electricity connection. Initially, this amount will be paid by the South Haryana Electricity Distribution Corporation from its funds and can later be recovered from the responsible officials after an internal investigation. An HRTSC spokesperson said the inquiry revealed that city resident Bharat Yadav suffered "unwarranted mental distress without any fault of his own" and held the power utility accountable.
HRTSC expressed disapproval of the conduct of executive engineer Vikas Yadav, who acted as the first-level grievance redressal authority and failed to attend the hearing twice. It advised him to be cautious in the future and recorded his name in the database for monitoring his performance. You Can Also Check: Gurgaon AQI | Weather in Gurgaon | Bank Holidays in Gurgaon | Public Holidays in Gurgaon Yadav applied for a two-kilowatt domestic electricity connection on Jan 1.
Despite his repeated visits to departmental offices, no clear reason was provided for the delay, he had said in his complaint. Eventually, the no objection certificate (NOC) was issued on March 26, 2025 — nearly three months later. Throughout this period, neither was his application rejected, nor was any communication provided, causing him unnecessary stress.
It was found that a letter sent to the builder on Dec 24, 2024 clearly said the approval to change the single-point connection to multi-point had been granted by the corporation's full-time directors on May 30, 2024. Despite this, the process was unnecessarily halted by the corporation's officials under the pretext of "electrification plan" approval. The commission clarified that such plans are only submitted by colonisers or other govt agencies, not by DHBVN itself when connections are issued directly by the corporation.
The investigation also found that the corporation had already purchased about 4,000 meters, indicating the intention to issue connections before the electrification plan approval. The commission noted if approximately 39 similar connections could be issued without plan approval, the complainant should not have been deprived of this facility. The commission deemed this entire incident as a violation of consumer rights and a clear case of negligence in service, approving a compensation of Rs 5,000 under Section 17(1)(H) of the Haryana Right to Service Act, 2014.
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