HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE A. RAJASHEKER REDDY Writ Petition No.12387 of 2014 Date: 16-06-2014 Between:
Nalla Malla Reddy Educational Society, represented by its Secretary Nalla Malla Reddy and another .. Petitioners AND The Government of Andhra Pradesh, represented by its Principal Secretary, Central Power Distribution Company of A.P. Limited, Secretariat, Hyderabad and 2 others .. Respondents HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE A. RAJASHEKER REDDY Writ Petition No.12387 of 2014 ORDER:
This writ petition is filed for a Mandamus declaring the action of the 3rd respondent in charging additional consumption deposit amount and insisting to pay said amount by pressurizing the petitioners as illegal and arbitrary and for a consequential direction to the 3rd respondent not to disconnect power supply to the petitioner's institution vide S.C.No.RRE 2388, 050600257, 050600527, 162900233 and 162900714.
2. The case of the petitioners is that the 1st petitioner institution is an Educational Society being managed by the 2nd petitioner as Secretary. The petitioner is a consumer of Central Power Distribution Company of A.P. Limited with Service Connection Nos.RRE 2388, 050600257, 050600527, 162900233 and 162900714 and has been paying electricity monthly bills regularly without any arrears to the 3rd respondent. It is stated that the 3rd respondent issued four bills for the month of March, 2014 showing consumption charges for each bill and also fixed Additional Consumption Deposit (ACD). Though the petitioner never committed any default in payment of any bills, the 3rd respondent without any basis charged huge amount towards Additional Consumption Deposit. The 3rd respondent threatened to disconnect the power supply in the event of failure to pay the said bills within the stipulated time. Aggrieved by the same, the present writ petition is filed.
3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri O. Manohar Reddy, learned standing counsel for the respondents.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondents arbitrarily demanding Additional Consumption Deposit without following the procedure.
5. On the other hand, the learned standing counsel for the respondents submits that every year the consumption deposit is revised and basing on the consumption, the petitioner will be asked to deposit the additional consumption deposit as per Regulation 6 of the APERC Regulation, 2004. As such, the petitioner cannot question the same.
6. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and the submission made by the learned standing counsel, the petitioner has not made out any valid ground for declaring the demand of additional consumption deposit by the respondents as illegal, expect stating that the petitioner is paying bills regularly, and hence, the writ petition is devoid of any merit and the same is liable to be dismissed.
Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs. As a sequel thereto, miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending shall stand closed.
A. RAJASHEKER REDDY, J Date: 16-06-2014 Ksn