AVTAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant was prosecuted for theft of electrical energy from the Punjab State Electricity Board and was convicted. In this appeal the appellant had not sought to challenge the finding that he had committed the theft. He has only raised a point of law that his conviction was illegal in view of certain statutory provisions to which, therefore, we immediately turn.

(2.) The statute concerned is the Indian Electricity Act, 1910. Section 39 of the Act, so far as material, provides, "Whoever dishonestly abstracts, consumes or uses any energy shall be deemed to have committed theft within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code". It is not in dispute that the appellant had committed the theft mentioned in this section. Section 50 of the Act provides, "No prosecution shall be instituted against any person for any offence against the Act...... except at the instance of the Government or an Electrical Inspector, or of a person aggrieved by the same. " The appellant's contention is that his prosecution was or an offence against the Act and it was incompetent as it had not been established that it had been instituted at the instance of any of the persons mentioned in S. 50. The Courts below held that the prosecution was not for an offence against the Act and in that view of the matter held that S. 50 did not apply. On the question whether it had been instituted by a person mentioned in S. 50, the prosecution gave no materials for a decision.

(3.) The question whether theft of electricity is an offence against the Act or not has come up before the High Courts on several occasions and thy decisions disclose a diversity of opinion. It will be convenient to refer to these opinions at this stage. In State vs. Maganlal Chunilal, AIR 1956 Bom 354 Tulsi Prasad vs. The State, (1964) 1 Cri LJ 472 (Pat) and Public Prosecutor vs. Abdul Wahab, 1964-77 Mad LW 271 it was held that the theft was not an offence against the Act while the contrary view was taken in Vishwanath vs. Emperor, ILR (1937) All 102 Dhoolchand vs. State, ILR (1956) 6 Raj 856 and In re. P. N. Venkatarama Naicker, AIR 1962 Mad 497.