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Consumer paying for services have a right to know as to how, where and in what manner, the same has been utilized

In  Mubarak Masih vs v. M/S Gautam Construction Company, the complainant had alleged before the Punjab State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, that he has been made to pay excess amount relative to the quality of work done by the opposing party and that the opposing party has refused to provide bills  or inform him about the work done by producing any bills. For this the complainant agreed to have the alleged work accessed by an independent accessor.

The State forum ordered the said assessment overriding the objection of the opposing party who also confirmed that the opposing party has overcharged the complainant.

Under above circumstances, we are of the considered opinion that the complainant was right in seeking bills from the opposite parties towards the work done in the building, when he noticed that excess money has been extracted from him. By not providing the said bills, the opposite parties were deficient in providing service. It is significant to mention here that the opposite parties cannot wriggle out of the situation by stating that they were not obliged to provide any record/bills to the complainant, as the same was not agreed to between the parties, because every person who is shredding hefty amount from his pocket, towards the services being provided to him, has  right to know as to how, where and in what manner, the same has been utilized. Thus, when the detail of bills towards expenditure on the construction work for the house of the complainant was not provided to him by the opposite parties and at the same time, he also come to know that excess amount has been extracted from his pocket by the opposite parties, he was right in stopping the work and cancelling the contract.

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