1 [(1) The complainant may submit his grievance, either in person or through post, e-mail or fax or online through the website of the Forum, giving the particulars of his grievance as specified in ANNEXURE-II:
Provided that the Complainant shall, apart from three copies of his complaint/grievance for the use of the Forum, also submit to the Forum one additional copy for each of the respondents to be included as parties, either by Post or in person, even in cases where the representation is originally submitted through e-mail, fax or online:
Provided that all the copies of the complaint/grievance to be submitted in aforesaid manner shall be complete in all respects, including the Annexure etc.:
Provided further that the Forum shall take cognizance of the grievance based on merits of the case and will not reject any grievance for the sole reason of its not having been submitted in the specified format.]
1 Subs. vide Not. No. HPERC-(H)(1)-1/2012 dated 26 th November, 2019 published in the R.H.P.
dated 28 th November, 2019 at p. 8253-8257 and before its substitution it stood as under:- “(1) The Complainant can submit his grievance either in person or through post, e-mail or fax giving the particulars of his grievance as specified in ANNEXURE – II:
Provided that the Forum shall take cognizance of any grievance submitted based on the merit of the case and will not reject any grievance for the sole reason of its not having been submitted in the specified format.” 8 Compendium of HPERC Regulations, March 2021
(2) The Complainant may also submit his grievance at the nearest Zonal, Operations Circle or Division headquarters of the licensee or at the other Complaint- Receiving Centres, set up by the licensee.
(3) All such Complaint-Receiving Centres shall accept the grievances from complainants falling within the jurisdiction of the Forum and the grievances along with other supporting documents, so received, shall be forwarded to the relevant Forum within the next working day.
(4) The Complainant shall be issued acknowledgement of the receipt of grievance by the Complaint Receiving Centre:
Provided that in case of receipt of grievance-
(a) in person, the acknowledgement shall be issued immediately;
(b) by post, e-mail or fax 1 [or online through the website of the Forum], the acknowledgement shall be despatched latest by the next working day:
Provided further that in case of receipt of grievance in the Complaint Receiving Centre, the contact details of the appropriate Forum shall be supplied alongwith the acknowledgement by the next working day.
(5) The licensee shall designate one of its officer as a nodal officer at the headquarters to monitor and ensure that all Complaints Receiving Centres forward the complaints received by them as per time lines specified under these Regulations.
(6) On receipt of complaint made under sub-regulation(1) of this regulation, the Forum may, by order under intimation to the Complainant, allow the complaint to be proceeded with or rejected:
Provided that no grievance shall be rejected, unless the Complainant has been given an opportunity of being heard.
(7) Where a complaint is allowed to be proceeded with under sub-regulation(6), the Forum may proceed with the complaint in the manner provided under these Regulations.