Activate promised number or pay Rs 50K: DK Consumer Forum to Airtel

February 3, 2017

Mangaluru, Feb 3: In a clear victory for an aggrieved consumer, Dakshina Kannada District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has decreed that mobile service provider Airtel is guilty of deficiency in service and ordered the company to pay compensatory amounts to the complainant.

In the year 2013, Mr. Abdullah A. Rehman, a city based youth had placed a confirmed order with Airtel Relationship Centre, Paradigm Plaza, AB Shetty Circle, Mangaluru for a SIM card with a specific cellphone number and paid Rs 1750 towards the purchase.

After some time the company contacted Abdullah A. Rehman and informed him that the number paid for is a fancy number and demanded a premium of Rs. 25,000/- from him. When Abdullah Rehman refused to pay the extra amount demanded and insisted that they activate the number already paid for, Airtel went ahead and sold the number to some other customer in Delhi for Rs. 25,000/-

Hence Abdullah A. Rehman decided to seek legal remedy and Dakshina Kannada District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum accepted his complaint on 4th April, 2013. After listening to both parties, Additional Bench of the Forum presided by Mr. Vishweshwara Bhat D. with Mr. T. C. Rajashekar as member found that the service provider was at fault. In its order dated 3rd December 2016, the bench decreed Airtel company to either re-allot and activate the number paid for or alternatively pay Rs. 25,000/- with 9% interest from the date of complaint. It also ordered payment of Rs. 20,000/- as compensation for mental agony and hardship and Rs. 5,000/- towards litigation costs within 30 days of the receiving the order.

Abdullah A. Rehman who received his copy of the order days only few back is jubilant about his victory. “Oftentimes corporates riding high on their power assume that they can get away with their flaws by framing several tiresome procedures. It's unfair they take such matters mildly. Today I am glad that through this order, justice is delivered and rekindled the hope in the common man towards our judiciary,” he says.

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Great ....................Capitalism doesnt work in some areas

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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