Ideal Educational Society College Of Engineering vs Kerala State Electricity Board Limited

Dinesh Kumar Singh, J

I.A. No.1/2023 (Amendment Petition)

This writ petition has remained pending for eight years and now the petitioner has come up with the application to amend the writ petition to keep the writ petition pending. At this belated stage, this Court does not find any ground to entertain this application for amendment, and therefore, the application is dismissed.

W.P.(C) No.34323/2016

This is the third round of litigation before this Court in respect of the assessment order made under Section 126 of the Electricity Act 2003 in Ext.P8.

Earlier the petitioner had challenged the said assessment order by filing W.P.(C) Nos.28790 and 29876/2009. The said writ petitions were disposed of by this Court vide order dated 10.06.2016 directing the petitioner to approach the Appellate Authority against the order of assessment under Section 126 of the Electricity Act and the Appellate Authority was directed to consider the appeal in the light of the guidelines framed in terms of Board Order dated 28.11.2013.

The petitioner thereafter filed the appeal before the Appellate Authority, and the Appellate Authority, vide the impugned order in Ext.P13 dated 01.10.2016, dismissed the appeal and affirmed the assessment order against which the present writ petition has been filed.

The learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that this Court, vide judgment dated 10.06.2016 passed in W.P.(C) Nos. 28790 and 29876/2009, directed the Appellate Authority to decide the appeal in light of the guidelines framed in terms of the Board Order dated 28.11.2013. But, the contents of the Appellate Order would suggest that the guidelines have not been taken into consideration.

The facts are not much in dispute. The petitioner is an educational institution running an Engineering College. The petitioner was provided with an electricity connection with a contract demand of 120 KVA and a sanctioned load of 110.57 KW under the HT IV commercial tariff. A surprise inspection was conducted on the premises of the petitioner on 18.06.2009. A site mahazar was prepared, and a provisional assessment for Rs.62,69,014/- was issued on 27.08.2009 on the allegation that the petitioner had connected an Unauthorized Additional Load (UAL) of 553.887 KW over and above the sanctioned load of 110.57 KW. The final assessment order was issued, which was challenged by the petitioner by filing two writ petitions as mentioned above. It cannot be doubted that the petitioner had unauthorizedly connected an additional load of 553.887 KW for which the assessment is to be made under Section 126 of the Electricity Act.

Learned Counsel for the petitioner has not been able to dispute the assessed amount. The order impugned in the writ petition passed by the Appellate Authority would disclose that every contention of the petitioner was considered and then the order of assessment was confirmed for an amount of Rs.62,69,014/-. When the Appellate Authority has not committed any procedural irregularity and there is no patent illegality in the order passed by the Appellate Authority, this Court would not like to enter into a disputed question of fact in the exercise of the writ jurisdiction. Even otherwise the appellate order appears to be perfectly in accordance with the law. The Court finds no justification to entertain this writ petition, which is hereby dismissed. The amount already paid by the petitioner shall be given credit in the final demand to be raised for the realization of the balance amount against the assessment order dated 08.10.2009 for Rs.62,69,014/-.

The writ petition fails and hence stands dismissed.