M/S Sarasth Propbuild Pvt Ltd v. Executive Engineer Electricity and 4 Others

Court No. - 3 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 27328 of 2023 Petitioner :- M/S Sarasth Propbuild Pvt Ltd Respondent :- Executive Engineer Electricity And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Shiv Bahadur Singh,Indra Bhan Yadav Counsel for Respondent :- CSC,Pranjal Mehrotra Hon'ble Siddhartha Varma,J. Hon'ble Shekhar B. Saraf,J.

¶1Instructions filed by learned counsel for Electricity Department, be kept on record.

¶2Heard learned counsel for petitioner, learned counsel for Electricity Department and learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel.

¶3The petitioner had taken a temporary electricity connection of 45 KVA on 20.06.2016. Thereafter on 02.06.2017 the load was enhanced to 300 KVA. The petitioner was into building activity and when the construction was completed, the possession of the building was handed over to various buyers. On 04.06.2019 a bill was received by the petitioner of Rs. 3,91,07, 978/-. To this bill the petitioner objected and on 26.06.2020 the bill was reduced to Rs. 2,91,91,336/- However, not satisfied by the reduction, the petitioner had again objected to this demand as well and therefore the bill amount, as per the reading which were available with the electricity department, was reduced to Rs. 2,47,75,915/-. Aggrieved by this bill which was raised and aggrieved by the recovery which was taking place by the recovery certificate dated

07.11.2022, the petitioner approached the writ court, by means of Writ-C No. 4797/2023. It may be mentioned here that when earlier the petitioner had received the electricity bill of this amount on

31.12.2019 the petitioner had approached this Court by means of Writ-C No. 8462/2021. The petitioner had submitted in both writ petitions before the High Court that the bill which was sent was erroneous and therefore it had prayed for a liberty to approach electricity department under Clause 6.5 of the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Supply Code, 2005 for the correction of the bill. When the order dated 24.02.2023 was passed in Writ -C No. 4797/2023 the electricity department had provided that the petitioner had to deposit Rs. 2,00,59,590/-before the application under Clause 6.5 of the Electricity Code would be considered. Aggrieved thereof the present writ petition has been filed.

¶4Learned counsel for petitioner has vehemently objected to the manner in which this amount had been calculated.

¶5Learned counsel for the electricity department however, has submitted that when the billing was being done for the electricity connection no. 3554, which had a meter, then definitely when the dispute was being raised then all questions which the petitioner was raising, would be considered at the time of the disposal of the application under Clause 6.5. He has submitted further that if the petitioner deposits 50% of the amount which was payable under Clause 6.5 b(ii) by the communicated dated 26.06.2023 then petitioner's complaint under Clause 6.5 would be considered.

¶6Having considered the rival claims between the parties, we are of the view that since the electricity department had on an earlier occasion agreed to look into the application of the petitioner under Clause 6.5 after he deposited 50% of the amount which was to be deposited under Clause 6.5, we provide a further relief to the petitioner and provide that if the petitioner deposits 40% of the amount which is to be statutorily deposited before the complaint could be considered then the petitioner's application under Clause

6.5 would be considered within a period of two months in accordance with law. We have reduced the deposit from 50% to 40% as the learned counsel for petitioner has informed that after the order dated 24.02.2023 was passed, the petitioner had deposited around Rs. 25lac.

¶8In addition to what has been stated here, during the period the complaint would be dealt with the petitioner shall continue to deposit the current bills.

¶9It is further directed that no coercive action shall be taken for a period of two months against the petitioner or till the decision is taken under Clause 6.5 of the Electricity Code.

¶10With the aforesaid observations, this writ petition is disposed of. Order Date :- 12.12.2023 Sharad/- (Shekhar B. Saraf, J.) (Siddhartha Varma, J.) High Court of Judicature at Allahabad