Idea directed to pay Rs 40,000 as compensation for 'unfair trade practice'

A consumer forum has directed Idea Cellular to pay its subscriber a sum of Rs 40,000 as compensation for disconnecting her mobile services without prior notice and alloting her number to someone else, reports the Times of India.

The complainant, Delhi-based Preeti Singhla, had been an Idea subscriber since 2008. In her complaint, Singhla alleged that the operator disconnected services to her number in 2009 and allotted it to someone else without giving her any prior notice. She added that since her number “was of a type which was in demand”, the company gave it to someone else without informing her.

In troubled waters (Image credit: Getty Images)

The East District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum added that the company did not posses any document on record to testify that it had issued a notice to the subscriber in question before disconnecting her services.

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A bench headed by N A Zaida said, “There is not a single document on record to show that the opposite party (Idea Cellular) issued any notice to the complainant before disconnecting the services to her number and allotting the same to a third person. Since no such notice has been given, withdrawal of services and thereafter, allotment of this number to the third person is unfair trade practice.”

Idea Cellular has claimed that Singhla had not submitted any identification proof and was not found in the residential address during a physical verification check, following which services to her number were stopped. Singhla refuted these claims and added that they (Idea) had been regularly sending her bills on that address. The forum rejected Idea’s contention on the grounds that it had not submitted any document to prove that the address submitted by Singhla was false.