PLYWOODS PVT LTD Vs. BIHAR STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this writ petition, petitioner is aggrieved by the electric bill dated 1.9.2000, contained in Annexure -4 whereby and whereunder a demand of Rs. 20,92,281/ - has been raised by the Respondent -Bihar State Electricity Board, hereinafter referred to as 'the Board ', unilaterally increasing the recorded monthly consumption of the petitioner by one and half times on the ground that the meter of the petitioner was found defective.

(2.) IN short, the relevant facts are that the petitioner, which is a company registered under the Companies Act, receives electricity from the Board for his factory and has a contract demand of 120. KVA and, as such, falls in the category of a High Tension consumer. They received monthly bills up to July, 2000 on the basis of meter reading from the Respondents and has been paying them accordingly. On 24.8.2000, a team of Engineers of the Respondent -Board and its MRT division visited the factory of the petitioner and inspected its meter, and prepared an inspection report in which they noted the details of the meter installed as well as its reading and its seals. All the seals were found intact. In the inspection report under the column 'remark ' the inspecting team noted that the meter could not be tested because B Phase Current was showing

(3.) IT is contended by the learned counsel for the petitioner that in view of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of MPEW & ors. V/s. Smt. Basanti Bai, reported in AIR 1988 SC 71, the Respondents are not at all empowered to raise such bills on their unilateral assumption that the meter is defective. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, it is only the Electrical Inspector, who is empowered under Section 26 (6) of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910 to decide the issue as to whether the meter is defective or not and if he finds that the meter is defective, then the consumption of electricity is to be estimated by him for a period not exceeding six months. It is submitted that the Supreme Court in the said case has laid down that pending such adjudication by the Electrical Inspector, Respondent Board is not entitled to raise any such bill or to disconnect the electric line of the consumer. It is, thus, submitted that the issue being no longer res integra, the bill raised by the Respondent - Board is wholly unauthorised and is fit to be quashed on this ground alone.