Court No. - 29
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 18763 of 2019 Petitioner :- Bhanu Pratap Singh Bhadauria Respondent :- Dakshinanchal Electricity Distribution Corporation Limited And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Puneet Bhadauria Counsel for Respondent :- Baleshwar Chaturvedi
Hon'ble Pankaj Mithal,J. Hon'ble Prakash Padia,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Baleshwar Chaturvedi, learned counsel appearing for the Dakshinanchal Vidhyut Vitran Nigam Ltd.
The petitioner was found involved in theft of electricity energy and accordingly was provisionally assessed for the same vide order dated 24.12.2018 and a demand of Rs.9,45,132.99 was raised against him.
The petitioner alleges that the said demand is excessive and incorrect and as such he has preferred a Writ C No.7220 of 2019 before this Court. The writ petition was disposed of on 01.3.2019 with the direction to the competent authority to decide the petitioner's objection against the provisional assessment by reasoned and speaking order. In compliance with the same, the present impugned order dated 8.5.2019 has been passed by the Executive Engineer.
A bare perusal of the impugned order reveal that it has rejected the objections of the petitioner against the provisional assessment as the petitioner was given opportunity of hearing as directed by the High Court but without considering whether the said objections were tenable in law or not. The order does not even comments whether the method adopted by the authority making provisional assessment was correct or not.
In view of the above, we find that the order impugned is a unreasoned and is in violation of the earlier order of the High Court.
At this stage, Sri Baleshwar Chaturvedi, learned counsel for the respondents contends that it would be better if the order impugned is quashed with liberty to the Executive Engineer to pass a fresh reasoned order.
In view of the aforesaid facts, the impugned order dated 08.5.2019 is quashed and the Executive Engineer is directed to consider the matter afresh in the light of the terms contained in the order of the High Court dated 01.3.2019 and decide the matter by a reasoned and speaking order most expeditiously, if possible, within the next six weeks.
The writ petition is disposed of.
Order Date :- 29.5.2019 Pramod Tripathi