Partly allowed

Utsav Communication Pvt. Ltd. v. Media Pro Enterprise India Pvt. Ltd.

TDSAT24 Nov 2011BROADCASTING PETITION/429/2011

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

petitioning for injunction against a public notice demanding subscription fees. The court observed serious disputes regarding payments and fee quantum. An injunction was granted subject to the condition that the petitioner continues to pay Rs.2,01,000 monthly for specified periods.

What did the court decide?

Injunction granted; Petitioner directed to continue payment of Rs.2,01,000 per month for December 2011 onwards.

Utsav Communication Pvt. Ltd. vs Media Pro Enterprise India… — Consumer Protection | TDSAT (2011)

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TELECOM DISPUTES SETTLEMENT & APPELLATE TRIBUNAL

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NEW DELHI

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Dated : November 24, 2011

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Petition No.429(C) of 2011

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Utsav Communication Pvt. Ltd. …Petitioner

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Media Pro Enterprise India Private Ltd. …Respondent

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BEFORE:

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HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE S.B. SINHA, CHAIRPERSON HON’BLE MR.P.K. RASTOGI, MEMBER

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For Petitioner : Ms.Neha Jain, Advocate

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For Respondent : Mrs. Pratibha M. Singh & Mr. Vadivelu Deenadayalan, Advocates

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ORDER

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The petitioner by this petition, inter alia, sought for a direction upon the respondent herein to withdraw its public notice dated 30.5.2011. The parties hereto have entered into an agreement.

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The petitioner contends that it had signed a blank copy of subscription agreement and a copy thereof had not been supplied to it.

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Page 1 of 7

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It is admitted that a Memorandum of Understanding was entered

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into by and between the Petitioner and Zee Turner Ltd., the predecessor in interest of the respondent herein in respect of Zee Group of Channels, whereby and whereunder the parties had entered into an agreement in terms whereof the applicant was to pay a sum of Rs.29,952/- per month inclusive of service tax.

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By reason of the said agreement between the parties hereto the

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petitioner was to pay a sum of Rs.6,93,844/- by way of arrears.

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The respondent , however, contends that a sum of Rs.89,854/-

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was due from the petitioner which is in the following term:

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“Utsav Cable TV Network

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Statement of accounts for the period from 01.04.2011 to 30.06.2011 as per ZTL.

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Month	Billing	Credit note as per MOU	Cum Balance
Opening Balance as on 01.04.2011			419,446
Apr-11	29,952		449,397
May-11	29,952	419,446	59,903
June-11	29,952		89,854
Total	89,855	419,446	89,854

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Page 2 of 7

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It is furthermore stated that not only a copy of the agreement was signed, but also delivered to Mr. Anand Kumar on the date of execution of the agreement itself.

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So far as Star Group of Channels is concerned, it is stated that a subscription agreement was entered into with effect from 1.1.2011 and in terms thereof a sum of Rs.2,01,322.59 inclusive of taxes became payable.

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A copy of the said agreement, according to the respondent, has also been served upon the Petitioner.

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Respondent herein admittedly has taken over distribution of both Star and Zee Groups of Channels with effect from 1.7.2011. So far as Media Pro Enterprises is concerned, a statement of account has been filed which read as under:

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S. NO	NAME	CITY	PINCODE	BARCODE	WAT	RATE
98	CABLE INDIA CORPORATION	GOA	403802	EM02131000RIN	30	22.67
99	RAJAT CABLE NETWORK	SATARA	405001	EM021310011IN	30	22.67
100	IRANI CABLE N/W	THANE	401602	EM021310025IN	30	108
101	COSTA CALE TV CO AND D/GOA	GOA	403706	EM021310039IN	30	22.67
102	PADMESH CITY CABLE N/W	BALAGHAT	481001	EM021310042 IN	30	22.67
103	KERALA VISION LTD	THRISSUR	680010	EM021310056 IN	30	22.67
104	SAT LINKS	PAJAKKAN	679121	EM021310060 IN	30	22.67
105	PUTTUR CABLE NETWORK	PUTTUR	574202	EM021310073 IN	30	22.67
106	PRIGEVIEW BROAD BAND	KANGRA	176031	EM021310087 IN	30	22.67
107	NEW NEELKANTH STAR M L	BADDI	174001	EM021310095 IN	30	22.67
108	J R CABLE NETWORK	MIZORAM	796701	EM021310100 IN	30	22.67
109	JADCHERLA COMMUNICATION	MEHBOOBNAGA R	509301	EM02131013 IN	30	22.67
110	J R COMMUNICATION PVT LTD	NAI GONAD	508001	EM021310127 IN	30	22.67
111	OMEGA SAT NETWORK	KANNUR	673310	EM021310135 IN	30	22.67
112	MUSSOORIE CABLE N/W	DEHRADUN	248179	EM021310144 IN	30	22.67
113	TADEPALLIGUDEM CABLE	GODAVARI	534101	EM021310158 IN	30	22.67
114	SPACE CABLE NETWORK P	RAIGARH	410207	EM021310161 IN	30	22.67
115	KOOT CABLE COMMUNICATION	KANNUR	670643	EM02131017 IN	30	22.67

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Page 3 of 7

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116	AYYAPPA SWAMY SITI CABLE	KADAPA	516360	EM021310189 IN	30	22.67
117	UTSAV CABLE NETWORK	HOSHANGARD	461001	EM021310192 IN	30	22.67
118	BRIDGEVIEW BROADBAND	DHAIPUR	175101	EM021310201 IN	30	22.67
119	MAIARAR COMMUNICATION	ERNAKULAM	673616	EM021310215 IN	30	22.67
120	BRIDGEVIEW BROADBAND	KANGRA	176115	EM021310229 IN	30	22.67
121	PRINCE NETWORK	ROTHASH	821115	EM021310232 IN	30	22.67

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REV 2719 SER TAX 280 TOTAL 3000

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The controversy between the parties is with regard to the amount of subscription fee payable to the respondent.

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Whereas, according to the petitioner the subscription fee payable for Zee Bouquet of channels is Rs.29,000/- per month and for Star Bouquet of Channels it is for Rs.35,000/-; according to the respondent the same is for a sum of RS.2,02,000/-.

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The matter relating to grant of interim relief was heard by us on 9.11.2011.

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A statement was made on behalf of the petitioner that a sum of Rs.5.50 lakhs had been paid in favour of the respondent.

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The petitioner in terms of our direction of the said date has filed a banker’s certificate showing that it had paid a sum of Rs.5,00,000/to the respondent by a cheque bearing No.52 dated 30.6.2011 which has been encashed.

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The petitioner has also filed a copy of the application dated 11.11.2011 addressed to the Branch Manager, Standard Chartered Bank asking it for a certificate to the effect that it had drawn a DD for

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Page 4 of 7

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a sum of Rs.5000/- and had issued three cheques bearing No.126082 for Rs.1,00,000/-, 013678 and 013679 for a sum of Rs.25,000/- each, but it had not been able to obtain any certificate in relation thereto as an endorsement thereupon has been made “will only be able to provide on receipt of necessary approvals”.

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It is, therefore, evident that there exists a serious dispute with regard to the payments said to have been made by the petitioner as also the quantum of subscription fees payable to the respondent.

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Our attention has been drawn to the fact that the petitioner was

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served with a notice under Clauses 4.1 and a public notice under Clause 4.3 of the Regulations being dated 19.9.2011 and 30.9.2011 respectively.

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By reason of the said notice dated 19.9.2011, a sum of Rs.8,83,310 was said to be due.

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Only three days’ time had been granted to the petitioner to pay the said amount. It is now admitted that a credit note had been issued in favour of the petitioner for sum Rs.4,19,446/-.

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Had that credit note been issued before issuance of the said notice under Clause 4.1 of the Regulations, evidently the alleged outstanding from the petitioner would not have been Rs.8,83,310/- as on 31.8.2011 as shown in the invoice or otherwise. The said credit note, therefore, must have been issued only after the said date.

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Page 5 of 7

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We, therefore, are of the opinion that the petitioner for the reasons aforementioned had made out a case for grant of an order of injunction in its favour.

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It has rightly been pointed out by Ms. Jain that there also appears to be slight inconsistency in the claim of the respondent that a sum of Rs.1,92,000/- was payable for the Star Bouquet of channels and Rs.27,000/- for the Zee Bouquet of channels which with tax would come to Rs.2,30,000/- and not Rs.2,01,000/-.

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Our attention has further been drawn to an invoice for the month

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of June, 2011 to show the following:

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16076
Utsav CableTV Network	INVOICE DATE	23/05/2011
AnandParsaniya	INVOICE REF. NUMBER	ZTL/16076/158162
B-48, S.P.M. COLONY	CUSTOMERCODE	16076
NearJaiSatamb,Hoshangabad	CUSTOMER TYPE	CATV
461001- Hoshangbad
Hoshangabad, 461001, Madhya Pradesh	PAYMENT DUE D	ATE:- 10/06/2011
Contact Number 0
9425606999

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Particulars	Period Amount(in Rs.)
Subscription Charge	01/06/2011-30/06/2011 27,154.60
Service Tax 10%	2,715.46
Sec And Higher Educess 1%	27.15
Education Cess 2%	54.31
Total Invoice Amount:-	29,951.52
Previous Period Outstanding:-	479,351.37
Total Dues/ Outstanding (For Bill	wise breakupof outstandingBills,refer to attached List):- 509,302.90
Total Payable ( in words):-	Rupees Five Lakh Nine Thousand Three Hundred Two and Ninety Paisa Only
Last Payment Received vide Dema	nd Draft No:- 110538 Dated : 28/06/2010 for Rs. 20,800.00

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Page 6 of 7

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Prima facie again, the amount of Rs.4,79,351.37 was shown due although the petitioner was entitled to the credit of the said amount. We may also notice that according to the petitioner the statement of account filed by the respondent should not prima facie be relied upon on that premise. The ad interim order is, therefore, made absolute subject to the condition that petitioner without prejudice to its rights and contentions of the parties shall continue to make payments of the subscription fee to the extent of Rs.2,01,000/- to the respondent for the months of December, 2011 onwards.

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The prayer of interim order is disposed of with the

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aforementioned directions.

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(S.B. Sinha) Chairperson

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(P.K. Rastogi) Member

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November 24 , 2011 `anu’

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Page 7 of 7

Utsav Communication Pvt. Ltd. v. Media Pro Enterprise India Pvt. Ltd.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Utsav Communication Pvt. Ltd. v. Media Pro Enterprise India Pvt. Ltd.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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