SAJJAN RAJ SURANA Vs. JAIPUR VIDYUT NIGAM LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Shorn in details the facts giving rise to this second appeal are that Sajjan Raj Surana (Plaintiff appellant) instituted a civil suit for permanent injunction with the averments inter alia that he has been practising advocate not only in the subordinate Courts but also before this Court; he had taken electric connection from erstwhile Rajasthan State Electricity Board (RSEB) (now substituted as Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd., Jaipur) bearing Account No. 28A/112-4 Zone III for his rented premises in a residential building known as Rahim Manzil, M.I. Road Jaipur, where his office-cum-chamber is established. His case in the plaint was that being an advocate by his profession he is not indulged in any commercial activities to the suit premises but the defendant (RSEB) charged for electric connection to his chamber as a commercial establishment whereas at that time, domestic charges was 59p. as against commercial one at Rs.1.05p. per unit.

(2.) In written statement, the defendant (RSEB) had a case that the suit premises has been situated in a Rahim Manzil which was in a commercial area, inasmuch as according to application dt. 26-6-1987 the plaintiff applied for electricity supply under a non-domestic service category, therefore, even he on demand also deposited Rs. 156.00 on 19-8-1987 for release of such NDS electric connection and accordingly the plaintiff was being charged as a non-domestic service customer of the RSEB, which he continued to pay since first bill, November, 1987.

(3.) In replica the plaintiff averred that the portion of Rahim Manzil where his chamber is situated has been a residential area where many of people have been residing as tenants for their residences and no commercial activities have been performed not only by them but also by him, and that apart, initial bill had been charged as a domestic customer but subsequently changed to commercial one without any prior notice or intimation to him, and that being so, had been paying the electricity bills under protest.