Cause Of Cylinder Explosion Unclear, Palakkad District Commission Clears Liability Of Indian Oil Corporation’s Subsidiary Indane
Recently, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Palakkad bench comprising Mr Vinay Menon (President), Mrs Vidya A (Member) and Mr Krishnankutty N.K (Member) absolved Indane, the subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation and its distributer, Matha Indane, of liability arising from a consumer complaint against faulty refilling of an LPG cylinder which led to the explosion of...
Recently, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Palakkad bench comprising Mr Vinay Menon (President), Mrs Vidya A (Member) and Mr Krishnankutty N.K (Member) absolved Indane, the subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation and its distributer, Matha Indane, of liability arising from a consumer complaint against faulty refilling of an LPG cylinder which led to the explosion of the residential premises of the complainant. The bench perused the evidence and found that the complainant failed to establish the cause of explosion.
Brief Facts:
Mr. K.P. Abbas (“Complainant”) bought a household Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder from Matha Indane (“Distributer”), filled by Indane, a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. The cylinder exploded causing the destruction of part of the complainant’s residential building causing losses up to Rs. 20 lakhs. The complainant alleged that the explosion was caused as a result of the substandard quality of the cylinder and the unscientific manner in which it was filled with LPG. Resultantly, the complainant filed a consumer complaint in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Palakkad (“District Commission”) seeking relief of Rs. 20 Lakhs along with incidental damages.
Indane and the distributer contended that the explosion was caused due to external factors. They alleged that the cause of the explosion was determined to be the complainant's own carelessness, and there's no negligence on their part. The complainant stored his cooking gas cylinder in a kitchen where a fireplace using firewood was also burning. An explosion happened because the fire from the fireplace spread to the gas cylinder. Moreover, the cylinder wasn't full at the time of the explosion.
Observations by the Commission:
The District Commission relied on the report of Expert Commissioner submitted by the Complainant himself. The report conclusively established that the residential building of the complainant was damaged but it did not offer any explanation with regard to the cause of the concerned explosion. The District Commission further noted that the complainant failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove negligence on part of Indane or the distributer. Thus, the manufacturing or the integrity of the construction material of the cylinder due to faulty refilling could not be proved by the Complainant.
As a result, the District Commission held that Indane and its distributer were absolved of deficiency in service and the complainant was held to be not entitled of any reliefs. The complaint was dismissed.
Case: K.P. Abbas vs Indane, Indian Oil Corporation Limited
Case No.: Complaint Case No. CC/158/2019
Advocate for the Complainant: Adv. K.P. Nouphal
Advocate for the Respondents: Adv. M/s. Menon & Pai (For Respondents 1 and 2) M.P. Ravi & K.K. Jaideep (For Respondent 3) and y Adv. M. Krishnadas (For Respondent 4)