Hon'ble Dinesh Kumar Singh,J.
As there is no objection from the respondents to the application for condonation of delay, being allowed, it is hereby allowed and the period of delay as pointed out by the Registry is, thus, condoned.
Heard Mr. B.C. Rai along with Mohd. Rafi Khan, learned counsel for appellant as well as learned Standing Counsel for respondent no. 1 and Mr. Manish Jauhari, learned counsel for respondents no. 2 and 3.
This intra Court appeal has been filed challenging the final order dated 11.1.2021 passed by the learned Single Judge in Writ Petition No. 348 (MS) of 2021 (Girdhar Sheet Bhandar Thru Managing Director, Puneet Kumar Agarwal vs. State of U.P. and others).
Learned counsel for appellant submits that the learned Single Judge has grossly erred in dismissing the writ petition holding that it is not maintainable. The appellant-petitioner had not challenged any order passed by the Electricity Ombudsman dated 17.3.2020 and, as such, the order passed by the U.P. Electricity Regulatory Commission cannot be treated to be the order under appeal. The learned Single Judge has not appreciated the submissions made in this regard and has dismissed the writ petition.
Mr. Manish Jauhari, learned counsel for respondents no. 2 and 3, on the other hand, submits that the special appeal would not be maintainable in the given facts and circumstances of the case as the appellant-petitioner had challenged the order dated 1.12.2020 passed in Case No. 11/2018 filed before the U.P. Electricity Regulatory Commission. The U.P. Electricity Regulatory Commission is the body where the order passed by the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum is challenged and, as such, it acts as an appellate authority. The Special Appeal, therefore, would not be maintainable in the given facts and circumstances of the case.
It is also submitted that the appellant-petitioner has simultaneously pursued the remedy of recall by filing an application for recall before the U.P. State Electricity Regulatory Commission and has also filed the special appeal. The U.P. State Electricity Regulatory Commission has dismissed the recall application on the ground that the instant special appeal has been preferred by the appellant.
We have considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and gone through the record.
We are of the considered view that the order dated 1.12.2020 passed by the U.P. State Electricity Regulatory Commission was challenged before the writ Court, however, the writ petition was dismissed. The recall application preferred against the said order has been dismissed vide order dated 23.7.2021 solely on the ground that the instant special appeal is pending. The said order dated 23.7.2021 is challengeable before the writ Court.
In view of above, we dispose of this special appeal with the observation that the appellant-petitioner may challenge the order dated 23.7.2021 by filing a writ petition. He may also challenge the order dated 17.3.2020 passed by the Electricity Ombudsman.
Order Date :- 25.8.2021 Santosh/-