Allahabad High Court
M/S Swastik Hose Pipe Ltd. vs State Of U.P. And 2 Ors. on 22 August, 2022
Bench: Siddhartha Varma, Vikas Budhwar
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 40
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 31455 of 2016
Petitioner :- M/S Swastik Hose Pipe Ltd.
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Ors.
Counsel for Petitioner :- Satyam Narayan
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Ajay Kumar,Nripendra Mishra
Hon'ble Siddhartha Varma,J.
Hon'ble Vikas Budhwar,J.
Heard Sri Satyam Narayan, learned counsel for the petitioner as well as learned Standing counsel for the State respondents.
The present writ petition has been filed seeking following relief:-
"(i) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature Certiorari quashing the entire proceedings pending before Electricity Ombudsman filed by the respondent no.2.
(ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus declaring that regulation 8.1 (i) and (iii) of the U.P. Electricity Regulatory Commission (Consumer Grievance Redressal forum and Electricity Ombudsman) Regulations, 2007 is ultra vires of the provisions of sub section (6) and (7) of Section 52 of Electricity Act, 2003.
(iii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus restraining the Electricity Ombudsman from proceedings further in the matter."
Essentially, the petitioner seeks quashing of the proceedings which is pending before the Electricity Ombudsman so instituted by Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. The issue as to whether the licensee being the respondent no.3 namely Pachimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. has a statutory right to prefer an appeal under Section 8.1 of the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum & Electricity Ombudsman) Regulations, 2007 is no more res-intgra as a Full Bench judgment of this Court in the case of Special Appeal No.20 of 2016 (Kisan Cold Storage & Ice Factory Thru Partner 6114 (M/S) 2012 Vs. Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. And Ors.) had the occasion to deal with the said aspect while holding that the electricity department being a statutory licensee does not answer the definition of consumer as mentioned in 8.1 (i) of the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum & Electricity Ombudsman) Regulations, 2007.
Under such circumstances, once the said legal issue has been decided in the case of Kisan Cold Storage (supra) then no further adjudication is required in the present petition as since the petitioner is aggrieved by filing of the appeal before the Electricity Ombudsman then it is always open for the petitioner to take the said legal plea before the proceedings, which is stated to be pending before the Electricity Ombudsman.
The writ petition is accordingly, disposed of with the liberty to the petitioner to take the legal plea regarding the maintainability of the appeal at the instance of Pachimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. before the Electricity Ombudsman and this Court has no reasons to disbelieve that the same shall be dealt by the Electricity Ombudsman before proceedings in the matter.
Order Date :- 22.8.2022
Mini
(Vikas Budhwar,J.) (Siddhartha Varma,J.)
