A man has won Rs 3.07 lakh in compensation from a company that failed to construct a staircase for his house, thereby spoiling his housewarming ceremony. A Thiruvananthapuram District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission held the company guilty of deficiency of service as the contractor failed to finish the work, leaving the staircase without handrails in an extremely hazardous and unusable condition.

President PV Jayarajan , Member Preetha G Nair and Member Viju VR were hearing a complaint filed by the man who stated that the staircase remained incomplete even after the housewarming ceremony, because of which he had to spend extra for a “temporary safety arrangement”.

The October 15 order noted that the expert commissioner who was sent for evaluation of the staircase by the consumer commission had stated in his report that “the present condition of the staircase is highly dangerous and without the handrails of the staircase and balcony, the inmates of the house cannot be able to use the first floor of…