Bhanu Pratap v. State of U.P. and 4 Others

Court No. - 3 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 34323 of 2023 Petitioner :- Bhanu Pratap Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Gauri Shankar Yadav Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Ugrasen Kumar Pandey Hon'ble Siddhartha Varma,J. Hon'ble Shekhar B. Saraf,J.

¶1Heard learned counsel for the parties.

¶2When a bill of Rs.8,68,845/- was sent to the petitioner the instant writ petition was filed with the allegation that when the Electricity Department disconnected the connection in the year 2004 then no bill could have been sent to the petitioner.

¶3Today, learned counsel for the Electricity Department, Sri Ugrasen Kumar Pandey has passed on a certain instructions which now states that the bill has been reduced to Rs.47273.94/-.

¶4Learned counsel for the petitioner states that nothing for a period prior to two years of the billing could be taken from the petitioner as per Clause 6.15 of the Electricity Supply Code, 2005.

¶5The clause 6.15 of the Electricity Supply Code, 2005 is being reproduced here asunder:- "6.15 Recovery of Arrears (a) The payments due to the Licensee shall be recovered as per provision of Section 56 of the Act, and arrears of land revenue as per the provisions of the U.P. Government Electrical Undertaking (Dues Recovery) Act, 1958, as amended from time to time.

(b) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no sum due from any consumer shall be recoverable after the period of two years from the date when such sum became first due unless such sum has been shown continuously as recoverable as arrear of charges of electricity supplied, and the supply of the electricity shall not be disconnected by licensee for this reason. [(Explanation: The date from which such charges becomes 'first due', needs to be correctly interpreted. If as a result of regular meter reading / inspection of installation of consumer, such charges / penalties levied as per this code or tariff schedule, shall become first due counted from the due date of payment of such a bill, and such bill shall be provided to the consumer not later than two billing cycle for that category of consumer.)]"

¶6Under Such circumstances, considering the provisions of Clause

6.15 of the Electricity Supply Code, 2005, we are of the view that the petitioner is not liable to pay any amount. The recovery certificate is thus quashed.

¶7With the aforesaid observations/directions, the writ petition stands allowed.

Order Date :- 14.12.2023 vkj High Court of Judicature at Allahabad