Ranchi, April 27: Acting on the complaint of a city resident, the Ranchi district consumer forum has slapped a fine on an air-conditioner (AC) dealer and asked him to return the cost of the equipment to one of its customers.

The dealer ? Calcutta-based Jhawar Sales Agencies ? has been found guilty of ?being deficient in service?.

Raj Kumar Somani, the proprietor of Pee Pee Compound-based Gandhara Consultants, had purchased an AC for Rs 35,000 from Jhawar Agencies on August 23, 2004, which was installed in his office.

After seven months, the machine developed technical snags, following which gas and water began leaking from the equipment. After repeated reminders to the dealer, a service engineer was sent to Somani?s office, but he could not repair the AC. After that, the dealer refused to send mechanics to repair the equipment.

Somani then approached the consumer forum, accusing the dealer of being deficient in service and of harassing him physically and mentally. Somani sought a refund the price of the AC along with an 18 percent of interest and a compensation of Rs 10,000.