Judgment No. SC 54/2018
Case No. SC 228/14
(b) incorrect, the council shall install a new meter and refund the sum
deposited to the consumer.
(3) …. .”
“52. Should the meter at any time be out of order and register incorrectly, the
Council will repair or replace the same as soon as possible, and the quantity of
water to be paid for by the consumer from the date of the meter ceasing to register
correctly up to the time of the repair or replacement shall be estimated by the
Council upon the basis of the previous consumption of water upon such premises,
or in the event of such an estimate being impossible, upon the basis of the
subsequent consumption after such repair or replacement has been effected. …. .”
The giving of any notice to a consumer under the Bye-laws is provided for
in s 61 which reads as follows:
“Where any notice is required by these Bye-laws to be served on or given to any
person it shall be served personally on such person or left at or served by post to
his last usual place of abode or business, and if served by post shall be deemed to
have been served at the time when the letter containing the same would be delivered
in the ordinary course of post, and in proving such service it shall be sufficient to
prove that the notice, order or other document was properly addressed and put into
the post, and in case any such person shall be absent from the Territory any such
notice may be served on any agent of such person known to the Council.”
It is apparent that none of the provisions of the Bye-laws cited above was
addressed or ventilated in the proceedings a quo. Yet they are critical in evaluating the
validity of clause 8(a) of the standard form contract. This clause cannot be taken in isolation
but must be considered within the entire context in which it appears.
The
prescribed
accounting,
payment
and
disconnection
process
contemplated under the Bye-laws is as follows. The process begins with the presentation
of an account based on the quantity of water registered on the relevant meter as having
been supplied. The account must be delivered at or posted to the consumer’s usual place of
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