A E C LTD Vs. MOHANBHAI GANPATBHAI BHATIYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition has been filed by the Ahmedabad Electricity Company with a prayer that the order dated 6. 10. 04 passed by the learned Judge of the City Civil Court, Ahmedabad by which the application for interim injunction filed by the respondent herein, original plaintiff was allowed on the condition that upon the plaintiff depositing 30% of the bill amount, his electricity connection shall be restored.

(2.) THOUGH one of the grounds in the petition is that Civil Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the petition in view of the provisions made in the Electricity Act, 2003, learned counsel Shri Pujara for the petitioner has fairly conceded that in view of the Division Bench decision of this court in the case of Torrent Power AEC v. Gayatri Intermediate, 2006 (2) GLH 375, in so far as the present suit is concerned, considering the conclusions summed up in para 21 of the decision, suit cannot be stated to be incompetent. Therefore, I have not accepted the prayer for quashing the proceedings of Civil Suit No. 1661/04 and focused only on the question of legality of the interim injunction order.

(3.) THOUGH served, no one appeared for the respondent. I have, therefore, heard learned counsel for the petitioner and find that against the disputed bill, the respondent had a right to appeal. Without availing the appellate remedy, he approached the Civil Court directly. Even otherwise, looking to the facts and circumstances of the case, the Civil Court ought not to have granted restoration of electricity supply without insisting on full payment, may be in installments. No special reasons are emerging from the order passed by the Civil Court to grant such indulgence to the consumer. It is further pointed out that though order passed by the Civil Court was stayed, the consumer has not deposited differential amount, and the Electricity Company with deference to the pending proceedings, has not disconnected the power supply.