Daijiworld Media Network - Sullia (SP)
Sullia, Sep 1: A local barber, who tried to stamp his authority on his right of preferential allotment of his services at his saloon which is his domain of work, learnt on Sunday August 31, that he cannot expect bureaucrats to tolerate his high-handed attitude, while the common men may choose to suffer without a protest.
The taluk tahsildar and magistrate Arunaprabha along with his son went to a saloon located near Chennakeshava temple here, on Sunday morning. As soon as one of the two chairs got vacated, he occupied it, as there were no other customers in the shop. The barber informed the tahsildar that he is in a queue and another customer, who had booked his seniority of service over phone in preference to him, would be served first. He also pointed out to a person speaking over phone outside the saloon, saying that he was the person eligible to get a haircut before the tahsildar himself.
Saloon owner Upendra and his son Rajesh argued with Arunaprabha, who was reluctant to buy their argument and reportedly used derogatory language against him. Arunaprabha went away thereafter, but got the father-son duo of the saloon summoned to his office through the policemen. When the police were about to register a case against the barber for deficiency of service, town panchayat president N A Ramachandra intervened and urged the tahsildar to settle for a compromise.
The barber had to spend the entire day at the taluk office, before offering an apology and paying up a fine of Rs 500 under Consumer Protection Act.
The tahsildar insisted that he had the genuine right to get the barber's services as there was no one ahead of him when he occupied the chair. The barber however, said that the person, who was busy talking on the phone outside, had booked his seniority over phone. Moreover, he was not aware that the customer he was trying to evict from the chair was the taluk tahsildar, he confessed.