ORDERS:

Charanjit Singh, President;

1        The complainant Charan Singh has filed the present complaint under Section 34, 35 & 36 of the Consumer Protection Act (herein after called   as 'the Act') against Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, through its Sub Divisional Officer, Sub Urban Division, Tarn Taran Tehsil and District Tarn Taran and another on the allegations that there is a colony namely Master Colony approximately in 50 Acres of land situated in the area of Muradpur within the City of Tarn Taran and many residential houses and commercial shops etc. are situated within the colony. One Harbhajan Singh son of Jagat Singh was having 5 Acres of land in the above said area and above said Harbhajan Singh has sold his land approximately 2 Acres by carving out the same in the shape of plots and the said plot is now known as street No. 9 and 10 of the Master Colony.  The above said Harbhajan Singh has executed a Will with regard to his remaining 3 Acres of land in the name of his grandsons namely Parambir Singh, Karambir Singh etc. The above said persons, in collaboration with Jaswant Singh son of Nand Singh and Palwinder Kaur w/o Jaswant Singh have planned to sell above land in the shape of residential and commercial plots. Jaswant Singh and his wife Palwinder Kaur have also got registered some land in their favour from above said persons. Karambir Singh, Parambir Singh, Jaswant Singh and Palwinder Kaur have carved out various plots out of the above said land and started to sell the above said land in the shape of plots residential and commercials. Later on as per the policy of Government, Jaswant Singh has obtained regularization certificate from the concerned Government authority in order to facilitate provisions of basic amenities to the plot holders of the area and has given the name of the area as ‘Baba Deep Singh Colony’ which is situated alongwith the area of Master Colony. As such, ‘Baba Deep Singh Colony’ has been legally developed and the Municipal Council Tarn Taran has also issued a certificate that the above said area comes within the Municipal Council area of Tarn Taran. An electricity connection was got installed by above said Jaswant Singh in the area for the purpose of construction/ development of the area. The residents of area have been using the electricity from the above connection by installing sub meters for construction work. The complainant has purchased the land i.e. a plot No. 35 measuring 6 Marlas 166 Sq. feet, situated in the area of Muradpur, the surrounding of the plot are as East Street 28 feet, West Vedor, north Plot No. 34 and South Rasta 22 feet and the said plot is situated in the colony. The complainant has also obtained necessary permission from the Municipal Council Tarn Taran for construction work and residential house was constructed on the above said plot belonging to the complainant. As such, the house was constructed after following all necessary formalities and thereafter, the complainant applied to the PSPCL (Corporation) for electricity connection in his residence, but the corporation has lingered on the matter by giving the one or another reasons. The complainant has made several requests to the officials of the corporation by saying that the electricity is the basic necessity of the life and it is very difficult for his family to live without proper domestic electricity connection. The officials of the corporation has told the complainant that above said Jaswant Singh has obtained NOC for PUDA approved colony and he has not developed LD system as per the instructions in the NOC, as such electricity connection has not been given to the residents of the area. The complainant has told the officials that ‘Baba Deep Singh Colony’ is not PUDA approved colony rather the above said area/ colony comes within the Municipal Area, Tarn Taran and further the same has been regularized vide regularization certificate bearing No. 583 dated 28.1.2014 issued by the Urban Local Body for the purpose of facilitate provisions of basic amenities to residents of the area. The colony is part/ situated alongwith the Master colony as the colony and the corporation has already installed numerous electricity connection in the Master Colony as such the complainant is also entitled for the electricity connection. The complainant has brought in to the notice of the corporation all the above said facts but the officials of the corporation have not heard the genuine request of the complainant and have not agreed to give electricity connection to the complainant. If there exists any dispute between the opposite parties No. 1, 2 and said Jaswant Singh then corporation can take the required legal remedies as per law against the above said Jaswant Singh but the corporation cannot deny to provide the electricity connection to the complainant as providing of electricity connection is mandatory as per the Electricity Act. The complainant is consumer within the definition of consumer provided Under Section 2(d)(ii) of the Consumer Protection Act. The complainant has intimated about his genuine need/basic necessity of the electricity to the concerned authorities of the PSPCL but none of the officials have paid any heed towards the genuine request of the complainant. The complainant has requested so many times to the concerned J.E & S.D.O to thoroughly investigate the matter but they used to linger on the matter on one and other pretext. The above said act on the part of the corporation and on the part of its officials is an arbitrary act/ a highly unfair trade practice as the complainant is suffering without any fault. The complainant has prayed that the opposite parties may be directed to provide domestic electric connection to the complainant. The opposite parties may also be directed to compensate the complainant with  Rs. 30,000/-  and Rs.15,000/- as litigation expenses. Alongwith the complaint, the complainant has placed on record his affidavit Ex. C-1, Self attested copy of sale deed Ex. C-2, Self attested copy of approved site plan Ex. C-3, Self attested copy of Municipal receipt Ex. C-4, Self attested copy of electricity bill of account of Jaswant Singh Ex. C-5, Self attested copy of regularization certificate Ex. C-6, Self attested copy of Adhar Card of complainant Ex. C-7.

2        After formal admission of the complaint, notice was issued to Opposite Parties and opposite parties appeared through counsel and filed written version contesting the complaint by taking preliminary objections that till the date of filing of the present complaint by the complainant, he never applied for release of any electricity connection as per rules detailed in clause 5.1 of Electricity Supply Code 2014 which clearly provides that the proceedings for release of connection are to be undertaken on receipt of an application in the application agreement (A and A) form prescribed by distribution licensee for this purpose.  Further the A and A form has been defined in clause 2(d) and the applicant has been defined in clause 2(c). Since the complainant had never applied for any electricity connection and is not covered by the definition of consumer and as such, the present complaint is not legally maintainable and is a clear abuse of process of law and is liable to be dismissed in a summary manner. The complainant has not come to this commission with clean hands and has suppressed material facts from this Commission and as such the complaint is liable to be dismissed with heavy costs. The complainant has caused misrepresentation and is also guilty of concealment of material and true facts. In the present case, material and important questions of facts and law are involved which cannot be decided in summary manner and can only be decided after recording of evidence and cross examination of witnesses of both the parties and which can only be decided by a civil court of competent jurisdiction, the present complaint is liable to be dismissed on this ground alone. The colonizer who had developed the colony was supposed to submit the complete layout plan of the electrical network purpose to be erected in the colony and other documents prescribed by the licensee alongwith the processing fee as per schedule of general charges and obtain the preliminary NOC from the licensee i.e. PSPCL. The NOC shall be issued by the licensee within 45 days of receipt of the proposal complete in all respects alongwith requisite documents. In case the developer/ builder/ society/ owners/ association of residents/ occupiers withdraws his request or fails to comply with the conditions within the stipulated time, the processing fees shall be forfeited as provided in clause 6.7. On merits, it was pleaded that if the colony by name of Baba Deep Singh Enclave has been created and developed by Jaswant Singh but it is denied that any regularization certificate has been obtained from the competent authority i.e. PUDA nor any such certificate is attached with the complaint. The electricity connection taken by Jaswant Singh was taken on temporary basis, and temporary connection is defined in clause 2(zzc) and means An electricity connection required by a person for meeting with his temporary needs as such:-

(i)      For construction of residential, commercial and industrial complexes including pumps for dewatering.

(ii)     For illumination during festivals/ family functions.

(iii)    For threshers or other such machinery excluding AP Pumps set.

(iv)    For touring cinemas/ circuses/ fairs/ exhibitions / melas/ congregations,

                   Said Jaswant Singh could not grant further connections to any other person including the residents of the area by installing sub meters for the purpose and this exercise is totally unauthorized use of electricity and as defined in Section 126 of Electricity Act, 2013. The premises of the complainant was checked on 23.7.2020 by the competent authority of the opposite parties and they were using energy by installing sub meters from the temporary connection taken by Jaswant Singh and provisional notices under section 126 dated 27.7.2020 for unauthorized use were sent to the said persons for depositing the amount of Rs. 28,991/- for unauthorized use of load of 1.666KW. The complainant was required to submit the objections if any, within 7 days nor the amount claimed was deposited and thereafter final notice under Section 126 was sent to the complainant vide memo No. 2546 dated 29.9.2020. As provided in Section 126 of Electricity Act, 2003, the complainant could file an appeal against the order of assessment within 30 days from the date of final notice and the present complaint is totally silent on this respect. The present complaint is not legally maintainable. Whenever an application for grant of connection is submitted in prescribed form then security amount on the basis of load applied has also to be deposited but it is nowhere mentioned by the complainant that he had ever deposited any amount of security. He has not given any date of submitting any application for his alleged application which he wrongly and falsely alleges to have filed. There is no NOC from PUDA. The master Colony is separate and is situated in different Khasra Numbers, while the present colony is in different Khasra Numbers and has been created recently. The colonizer/ developer was and is required to install and erect complete electricity line alongwith transformer to get it examined by Chief Electrical Inspector of Punjab Government, but in the present case no such exercise has been undertaken. Till the date of filing of the present complaint, the complainant had not submitted any application for grant of any connection to him and therefore, the question of making of request by him to the opposite parties does not arise. There is no question of any dispute between Jaswant Singh and the opposite parties. The opposite parties have denied the other contents of the complaint and prayed for dismissal of the complaint with costs. Alongwith the written version, the opposite parties have placed on record affidavit of SDO Ex. OP-R1, Copy of clause 5.1 of Electricity Supply Ex. OP-R2, Copy of clause 2(c) and 2(d) of Electricity Supply Code 2014 Ex. OP-R3, Copy of clause 6.7 (a to f) Ex. OP-R4, The copy of clause 2(zzc) of Electricity Supply Code 2014 Ex. OP-R5, Copies of checking report dated 23.7.2020 Ex. OP-R6, Copies of Provisional notices under Section 126 of Electricity Act, dated 27.7.2020 Ex. OP-R7, Copies of final notices under Section 126 of Electricity Act, dated 29.9.2020 Ex. OP-R8.

3        We have heard the Ld. counsel for parties and have also carefully gone through the documents on the file.

4        We are not touching the merits of the case, however, from the pleadings and documents placed on record it is clear that the present case pertains to unauthorized use of electricity. Alongwith the written version, the opposite parties have placed on record Self attested copy of Inspection Report Ex.OP-R6 addressed to the complainant which it is reproduced as follows:-

“That the above said person is residing in Baba Deep Singh Colony situated near Goindwal Chownk. In this colony, S. Jaswant Singh Padda has taken temporary connection No. 3005326969 for development of Colony. The colonizer is giving the electricity to the residents of colony by installing Sub Meter.…….”

In addition to that the opposite parties have also placed on record one document Ex. OP-R7 addressed to the complainant i.e. Notice of Provisional order of assessment for unauthorized use of electricity in exercise of power under provision of Reg. 36 of Supply code-2014 & Section 126 of Electricity Act, 2003. The opposite parties have also placed on record another document i.e. final order of Assessment for unauthorized Use of electricity as per provisions of Regulation-36 of Supply Code 2014 & Section 126 of Electricity Act 2003, which is Ex. OP-R8.  All the above said documents shows that this case relates to unauthorized use of electricity. Therefore, in view of Judgment passed by the Hon’ble Apex Court titled as “U.P. Power corporation Vs Anis Ahmed” vide C.A. No.  5466 of 2012 (arising out of SLP(C) No. 35906 of 2011), this Commission is not competent to entertain this complaint. Moreover, the complainant has failed to show any document on the basis of which he has applied for new connection. Hence, the present complaint is dismissed. The parties are left to bear their own costs. All miscellaneous applications pending in this complaint stand disposed of. Copy of order be supplied to the parties as per rules. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in Open Commission.

18.3.2021