AJAY KUMAR AGARWAL Vs. O S F C

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed with a prayer for quashing Annexure-3 which is a communication dated 16-11-2001 issued by the Executive Engineer, Electrical, Western Electricity Supply Company of Orissa Limited (WESCO), opposite party No. 2. By the said communication, the petitioner was informed that as it had taken over the assets of M/s. Maa Bhawani Rice Industries from Orissa State Financial Corporatibh (O. S. F. C.) by auction sale, the petitioner must clear the arrears of Rs. 1,56,798.10 ps. outstanding against M/s. Maa Bhawani Rice Industries before petitioner's application for availing power supply of 95 KW load will be considered. It was made clear that unless the above dues are paid, no power supply will be given from WESCO. The petitioner also made a prayer for a direction upon the opposite parties to refund the instalment money, which was deposited by the petitioner towards arrear dues of the previous consumer M/s. Maa Bhawani Rice Industries.

(2.) The material facts of the case are that the OSFC conducted an auction sale under Section 29 of the State Financial Corporations Act, 1951 and in such auction sale the petitioner purchased the said industrial unit on the basis of an agreement of sale which was executed between the petitioner and the OSFC. A copy of the said agreement of sale has been enclosed in the writ petition. From Clause 7 of the said agreement, it appears that from the date of delivery of possession, the vendee (the petitioner) shall pay the statutory dues and shall keep the assets insured. Apart from that, the petitioner has also enclosed in the writ petition a letter issued by the Branch Manager of OSFC dated 3-10-2001 to the effect that as per IPR-96 Clause 13(2), the transferred unit under Section 29 shall not be liable for arrears of sales tax and electricity dues of the previous owner. It was also stated that after sale of the unit under Section 29 of the Act, the transferred unit shall be treated as a new unit for the purpose of sales tax and octroi concession.

(3.) The petitioner's case is that after purchasing the said unit as the petitioner wanted electricity from WESCO, a demand notice was issued asking the petitioner to clear Rs. 1,56,798.10 ps. which represent the outstanding pending dues against the previous owner and the petitioner was informed that without clearance of the same, no power connection will be given. This is Annexure-3 which has been challenged in the writ petition. Challenging the said communication, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition before this Court on 21-11-2001 and thereafter this Court issued notice to the opposite parties by special messenger and again on 28-11-2001 the opposite parties gave its letter asking the petitioner to execute an agreement with the opposite parties after making security deposit of Rs. 92,004/- and clearing all outstanding dues pending against the previous consumer, namely, M/s. Maa Bhawani Rice Industries.