Visaithari Thuni Thayarippalargal Sangam, Podathurpettai vs The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board

S. Ramalingam, J.—The petitioner is a registered association called the Visaithari Thuni Thayarippalargal Sangam. It prays for the issue of a

writ of certiorarified mandamus to call for the records of the third respondent viz. Executive Engineer, Kanchi Electricity Distribution Circle, made

in K.16/290/88 dated 30-11-1988, to quash the same and to direct the first respondent viz. Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, to refrain from charging

under L.T. Tariff No. 4 in respect of the power consumed by the members of the petitioner Association, and to collect electric charges applicable

under L.T. Tariff No. 1. The petitioner association states that its members are eking out their livelihood through powerlooms installed in their

houses that the power consumed by them ranges from 1 to 1.5 H.P., which is within the 5 H.P. mentioned in GO. Ms. No. 3042 P.W.

(Electricity) dated 23-12 1980, and that they are liable to pay consumption charges only under L.T. Tariff No. 1 at 55 paise per unit.

The Executive Engineer by his impugned letter dated 30-11-1988 informed the president of the petitioner association that the electricity

consumed by the power looms cannot be classified under cottage industries and the request of the petitioner to charge them under L.T. Tariff No.

1 cannot be accepted.

In the counter affidavit, it is stated that L.T. Tariff No. 1 is restricted to services which are exclusively domestic and it is confined to the following

services:

Handloom in residence of hand loom weavers

Cottage industries, provided-(a) the cottage industry has a connected load not exceeding 5 H.P.

(b) the cottage industry is conducted entirely within the residence of the proprietor, it being deemed to be the permanent residence of the

proprietor, and

(c) the cottage industries does not cause the residence to constitute a factory within the meaning of the Indian Factories Act.

The petitioner association contends that its members are carrying on cottage industries within the residential building and that the power looms

have a connected load of less than 5 H.P. It is also submitted that their cottage industries are not factories within the meaning of the Indian

Factories Act, because ten or more employees are not employed in this avocation.

In the counter affidavit it is stated that by G.O. Ms. No. 1248. Labour Dept. dated 13th June, 1988 the Government had extended the

provisions of the Factories Act, 1948, to various establishments including power loom factories. It is submitted that since the members of the

petitioner association come within the definition of power loom factory, they are ineligible to obtain concessional payment under L.T. Tariff No. 1.

When a writ petition is filed by an association, consisting of nearly two hundred members, it may not be possible in the very nature of things to

ascertain whether each member of the sangam or association satisfies the requirements of G.O. Ms. 3042 P.W (Electricity) dated 23-12-1980.

The applicability of the Government Order will have to be decided with reference to the facts of each individual consumer. One member-consumer

may have a connected load of more than 5 H.P. while another may have less than 5 H.P. Similarly, one may run a power loom within his residential

portion while another may run it in a shed adjacent to his residential portion. Likewise, in one establishment, there may be more than ten employees

and in another there may be less thin ten employees. Hence, there cannot be a blanket order as prayed for in the writ petition to direct the

respondents to collect from all the members of the petitioner association ,electricity consumption rates at L.T. Tariff No. 1. The representation

made by the president of the association to the Executive Engineer resulted in the impugned order and it cannot also be quashed for the same

reason. It is for each of the members of the petitioner association to approach the concerned officer in this regard, satisfy him that he comes within

the provision of G.O. Ms. No. 3042 P.W. (Electricity) dated 23-12-1980 as amended from time to time and seek for a fixation of the correct

tariff applicable to him. With these observations, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs.