MYSORE MINERALS AND GAS COMPANY BANGALORE Vs. ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE ENGINEER KARNATAKA ELECTRICITY BOARD E 5 SUB DIVISION BANGALORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is a registered consumer of the Karnataka Electricity Board. Its electrical installation bears RR No, CP 1047/cp3/211. The said installation was inspected on 7-12-1989 by the Technical Audit Cell Staff of Karnataka Electricity Board in presence of the Factory Manager Sri Ramarao. During inspection, it revealed that the main cover seal of the meter was fake and sealing wire was found tampered with thereby providing an easy access to registering mechanism of the meter. The Inspecting Team drew a Mahazar in presence of the said factory Manager. Subsequently, a back bill of Rs. 7,41,524/- was raised against the petitioner under Annexure-A.

(2.) THE said bill was challenged by the petitioner before this Court in Writ Petition No. 23352 of 1989 which suffered an adverse order. Then the matter was taken in appeal in Writ appeal No. 3729 of 1993. A Bench of this Court after hearing a batch of writ appeals involving identical questions inter alia quashed the back bill Annexure-A by settling the law regarding back billing on account of alleged charge of electricity theft. (The judgment in Shreejee Plastics v Karnataka Electricity Board and Another ). The Bench has summarised the law in the said connection in paragraph 17 of the said judgment which reads as follows: "we may now summarise our conclusions as under:

(3.) KEEPING in view the said judgment and the facts and circumstances of the case, the petitioner has been served with the impugned notice dated 7-1-1997 (Annexure-D) requiring it to show-cause as to why it should not be subjected to back billing charges including interest amounting to Rs. 7,41,524/ -.