T M R RAJESWARAN Vs. JUNIOR ENGINEER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CHALLENGE in this Writ Petition is the proceeding of the third Respondent levying commercial Tariff V and direction is sought for to collect charges categorizing the Petitioner's service station under L. T. Tariff IV and to refund the excess amount collected from the Petitioner.

(2.) BRIEF facts of the case are as follows :-The Petitioner runs Service Station for which he has obtained S. C. No. 412 from Velayuthapuram Distribution in his name. The service connection was effected under Tariff IV on 04. 12. 1996. Based on A. G. s audit enquiry No. 13 dated 12. 11. 1996, a Notice was issued to the Petitioner on 30. 01. 1997 intimating that Tariff has been changed from IV to IX with effect from 12. 04. 1996. At this stage, the Petitioner had produced SSI Certificate issued by District Industries Centre Virudhunagar. Based upon the representation of the Petitioner and the certificate produced by him, the L. T. Tariff applicable to small industries III B was applied. 1]. Stating that there was wrong application of tariff, Respondents revised the tariff from L. T. Tariff-III B to Commercial Tariff V and passed the impugned Order that the Petitioner is liable to pay at the revised rate from 7/97 to 11/2001 Rs. 71,739/-, which is challenged in this Writ Petition.

(3.) ASSAILING the impugned Order, the learned Counsel for the Petitioner interalia raised the following contentions :-