KERALA STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD Vs. P.O.DEVASSYKUTTY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Kerala State Electricity Board and its officers have come up in appeal in this writ appeal challenging the judgment of a learned Single Judge of this Court in O.P.No. 11562/2003. In that writ petition, the respondent herein (who is no more and his legal heirs have come on record to prosecute the writ appeal as additional respondents 2 to 7), challenged the arrear bill for consumption of electricity issued by the Board for a period of one year on the ground that the electricity meter installed in the premises of the respondent was defective for the said period. The learned Single Judge allowed the O.P and quashed the demand on the ground that without following the procedure prescribed under Section 26(6) of the erstwhile Indian Electricity Act, which was applicable during the relevant period, the Electricity Board is not competent to raise arrear bill on the ground that for any period the meter was defective. According to the learned Single Judge, when Section 26(6) of the Indian Electricity Act stipulates that the questions as to whether the meter is defective or not and what is the arrears of electricity charges payable have to be decided by the Electrical Inspector on a reference by either of the parties, in the absence of such a decision from the Electrical Inspector, the Electricity Board has no jurisdiction to demand arrears of electricity on the ground that the meter was defective. The learned Single Judge relied on the decisions of this Court in Nirmala Metal Industries v. K.S.E.B. [2006(3) KLT 465], George Joseph v. K.S.E.B and others, [ILR 2008(4) Ker. 377] as also the judgment in O.P. No. 4969/2001 to come to the above conclusion. The Electricity Board is challenging the said judgment in this writ appeal.

(2.) ACCORDING to the learned counsel for the Electricity Board, the Electricity Board is competent to recover arrears of electricity charges when the meter was detected to be faulty for any period in view of the provisions of the Indian Electricity Act itself.

(3.) WE have considered the rival contentions in detail.