P.M. Chauhan, President. - All the three appeals arising from the judgment al1d artier in three complaints by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Mehsana, involve the common questions of law and practically similar facts and, therefore, by the request and consent of the learned advocates of the parties, are disposed of by common judgment.

2. Before the District Forum, the grievance of the respective respondents-complainants was excess billing even though they received normal bills for number of years prior to that and the learned District Forum considering the previous bills came to the conclusion that prima facie it is established that there was some defect in the meters and the functioning of the telephone which accelerated the meter reading and, therefore, inflated bill was given to the complainants and under the circumstances there was defect in the service and negligence in rendering the service to the customers on the part of the Telephone Department. The learned District Forum quashed the bill and directed the Telephone Department to give average bill to the customer keeping in mind the billing period for last 24 months in two c9mplaints and to give the bill