IN THE TAMIL NADU STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, CHENNAI Present: Hon’ble Thiru. Justice R.SUBBIAH ... PRESIDENT Thiru.R VENKATESAPERUMAL … MEMBER F.A. No.40 of 2019 & CMP No.86 of 2022 (Against the Order, dated 24.09.2018, in C.C. No.23 of

2010, on the file of the DCDRF, Chennai-South)

Orders pronounced on: 13.09.2022 M/s.Sakthi Gas Agencies, HP Gas Distributors, No.5, Muthu Nagar, Poonamallee, Chennai 600 056. ... Appellant/1st OP.

vs.

1. R.Devanathan, S/o.Raju Pillai.

2.Gomathi, D/o.R.Devanathan

3.D.Kishore, Represented by his father & Natural Guardian, the 1st Complainant S/o.R.Devenathan, (R3-Minor, died on 21.10.2013 recorded by Memo-Order dt.04.02.2015)

RR-1 and 2, residing at No.2, M.G. Nagar, Poonamallee, Chennai 600 056. ... R1 to R3/

Complainants 1 to 3.

4. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., rep. by its Manager, South Zone LPG SBU, Thalamuthu Natarajan Building, No.8, Gandhi Irwin Road, Egmore, Chennai 600 008. ... R4 / 2nd OP.

5. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., rep. by its Director, Corporation Head Quarters, Petroleum House, No.17, Jamshedji Tata Road, Mumbai-400 020, Maharashtra. ... R5 / 3rd OP.

For Appellant : M/s.K.Ganesan For RR-1 & 2 : M/s.T.Ravikumar For R4 & R5 : M/s.Ravi Ananda Padmanaban.

This First Appeal came up for final hearing on 18.07.2022 and, after hearing the arguments of the counsels for the parties and perusing the materials on record and having stood over for consideration till this day, this Commission passes the following:-

O R D E R

R.Subbiah, J. President.

–

The appellant herein/Gas Agency challenges the order, dated 24.09.2018, passed by the DCDRF, Chennai- South, in C.C. No.23 of 2010, in partly allowing the complaint filed by Respondents-1 to 3 herein and in issuing a direction against the Opposite Parties including the Gas Agency to jointly and severally pay Rs.5 lakh, Rs.1 lakh, Rs.50,000/- to the complainants towards compensation for mental agony, medical bill & hospital expenses and compensation for employing domestic servant respectively, besides a sum of Rs.5,000/- towards costs.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties shall be referred to in the course of this Order, as per their respective rankings before the District Forum.

The facts, as projected in the complaint, may be concisely stated as follows:-

Complainant No.1 is the subscriber of the 1st OP/Gas Agency for the past 18 years and his Consumer Number for the HP Gas Connection is 600038. On 09.06.2008, under booking No.33810 with the 1st OP, he booked for Refill Gas Cylinder which was delivered on 20.06.2008, however, the cylinder was not checked by the delivery boy of the 1st OP for any leakage or defect. While so, on 26.06.2008, the 1st complainant’s wife-Gowri awoke by 4.45 AM. to prepare tea. It seems that the defective cylinder in the kitchen had gas leakage, thereby, gas had spread in the kitchen during night hours. When she opened the refrigerator to fetch milk, the gas got ignited and the whole kitchen was engulfed by so huge flames that the deceased was thrown out of the house with severe burn injuries. She was immediately admitted in Ramachandra Medical College Hospital with severe burn injuries and, despite the best treatment given, she died at about 5.45 AM. on 29.06.2008. The 1st complainant lodged a complaint with the Ponnamallee P.S. who registered it as Cr. No.483/08 under Section 174 Cr.P.C. The post-mortem report stated that the death of the deceased was due to the complication of burn injuries. The 1st OP had not checked for any defect at the time of supply of the cylinder and they acted contrary to the mandatory safety rules prescribed by OP Nos.2 and 3/manufacturer of the LPG & owners of the cylinder. It is mandatory that the OPs shall carry out necessary tests before the recycling and delivery of LPG Cylinders. Such process must be followed to avoid any accident. But, in the present case, there was no compliance on such crucial aspect. All the OPs are liable to compensate the complainants’