{"id":60705,"date":"2024-12-29T15:41:41","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T10:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/?p=60705"},"modified":"2024-12-29T15:41:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T10:41:41","slug":"pta-orders-zong-to-refund-rs2-billion-to-customers-for-unfair-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/pakistan\/pta-orders-zong-to-refund-rs2-billion-to-customers-for-unfair-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"PTA orders Zong to refund Rs2 billion to customers for unfair charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority<\/a> (PTA) has <\/span>directed<\/span>\u00a0Zong, a cellular firm, to\u00a0<\/span>pay<\/span>\u00a0its consumers a whopping Rs2 billion in service and other expenses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>development<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>follows<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>rejection<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the company’s appeal against the\u00a0<\/span>August 2019 order<\/span>\u00a0issued by the capital’s high court<\/span>. The\u00a0<\/span>single<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>bench<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span>\u00a0Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb,\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the Islamabad High Court<\/a> (IHC),\u00a0<\/span>issued<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>order<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It all started when customers were billed Rs2,028,038,584 for service, maintenance, card, and operational fees from April 26, 2019, to July 12, 2019. The PTA ordered Zong to return this money on August 30, 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every time a consumer bought and used a prepaid card worth Rs100, cellular mobile operators like Zong would deduct Rs10, which is a significant amount.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court<\/a> played a\u00a0<\/span>significant<\/span>\u00a0role in this case, taking\u00a0<\/span>suo<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>moto<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>notice<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that some\u00a0<\/span>of the\u00a0<\/span>taxes and other charges levied <\/span>while<\/span>\u00a0topping up or\u00a0<\/span>recharging<\/span>\u00a0prepaid cards were\u00a0<\/span>not<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>fair<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>too<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>high<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

On May 3, 2018,\u00a0<\/span>it<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>passed<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>an initial\u00a0<\/span>order<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>finding\u00a0<\/span>that the service charges\u00a0<\/span>cannot<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>have been lawfully and validly applied to the\u00a0<\/span>sums<\/span>\u00a0purchased by mobile phone\u00a0<\/span>consumers<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, on\u00a0<\/span>16th\u00a0<\/span>October\u00a0<\/span>2018, the Supreme Court amended the judgement\u00a0 <\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>judgement<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>so<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>relief\u00a0<\/span>of a similar nature may also be provided\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>post-paid\u00a0<\/span>consumers of\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>cellular companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Thus<\/span>, Zong claimed that it had\u00a0<\/span>already\u00a0<\/span>dropped the 10% administrative and service fee\u00a0<\/span>which\u00a0<\/span>it\u00a0<\/span>was<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>charging<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>hitherto<\/span>. However, some cell phone companies, including Zong, resumed charging after the case was settled, which led to the PTA requesting clarification from the appellant on April 29, 2019.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>appeal<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>filed<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>by Zong in the Islamabad High Court<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>against<\/span>\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>PTA’s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>refund order\u00a0<\/span>was rejected\u00a0<\/span>as<\/span>\u00a0it could not be sustained further.\u00a0<\/span>It<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>also\u00a0<\/span>means that Zong\u00a0<\/span>has<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>pay<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>back<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>consumers<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Rs2 billion<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>this<\/span>\u00a0is a\u00a0<\/span>critical<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>juncture<\/span>\u00a0in the case. The\u00a0<\/span>judgment<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>came<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>out as\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>win<\/span>\u00a0for consumers who were unfairly charged by Zong<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>thus<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>opens<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>up<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>possibility\u00a0<\/span>for\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>other cellular companies\u00a0<\/span>also<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has directed\u00a0Zong, a cellular firm, to\u00a0pay\u00a0its consumers a whopping Rs2 billion in service and other expenses.\u00a0 The\u00a0development\u00a0follows\u00a0the\u00a0rejection\u00a0of\u00a0the company’s appeal against the\u00a0August 2019 order\u00a0issued by the capital’s high court. The\u00a0single\u00a0bench\u00a0of\u00a0Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb,\u00a0of\u00a0the Islamabad High Court (IHC),\u00a0issued\u00a0the\u00a0order. It all started when customers were billed Rs2,028,038,584 for service, maintenance, card, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":60706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1203,1200,25268],"class_list":["post-60705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","tag-islamabad-high-court","tag-supreme-court","tag-pakistan-telecommunications-authority-pta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60707,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60705\/revisions\/60707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}