Sudevi Kumari v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No 9481 of 2021 ====================================================== Sudevi Kumari Wife of Sri Jitendra Singh Resident of Village- Sahdai Buzurg, P.S.- Desari, Pin code- 844509, District- Vaishali. ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

1.

The State of Bihar Through Chairman State Electricity Board, Patna. 2.

The General Manager North Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd. Muzaffarpur.

3.

The Superintending Engineer North Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd. Muzaffarpur.

4.

The Executive Engineer North Bihar Power Distribution Vaishali at Hajipur. 5.

The Assistant Engineer North Bihar Power Distribution Vaishali at Hajipur. ... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr Ratan Kumar Sinha, Advocate For the Respondent/s :

Mr.Lalit Kishore (Ag) ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE CHAKRADHARI SHARAN SINGH and HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE MADHURESH PRASAD ORAL ORDER (Per: HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE CHAKRADHARI SHARAN SINGH) 11-02-2022 This case has been taken up for online hearing through video-conference because of COVID 19 pandemic restrictions.

The petitioner states that earlier she had made an application for electricity connection before the North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (for brevity, the Company) in the year, 2012 for commercial use. Subsequently, she made an application on 03.05.2013 before the Executive

Patna High Court CWJC No.9481 of 2021(2) dt.11-02-2022 2/3 Engineer, Vaishali for granting domestic service connection instead of commercial supply connection. It is the petitioner's grievance that till date, the petitioner's request for conversion of the nature of connection has not been considered. Accordingly, this writ application has been filed seeking direction to the respondents to convert commercial connection into domestic connection.

The petitioner has approached this Court nearly 8 years after she is said to have made an application for conversion.

Learned counsel for the petitioner states that the petitioner had been approaching authorities under the Right to Information Act seeking information and, therefore, there has been delay in approaching this Court. The said explanation, in the Court's opinion, is not valid and acceptable for this Court to entertain a belated claim. Secondly, the petitioner could have approached Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) constituted under Section 42 (5) of the Electricity Act, 2005, which she has not availed.

In the aforesaid circumstances, we are not inclined to entertain this application. This application is, accordingly, dismissed.

Patna High Court CWJC No.9481 of 2021(2) dt.11-02-2022 3/3 The petitioner shall be at liberty to seek any other remedy, as may be available to her in accordance with law. (Chakradhari Sharan Singh, J) (Madhuresh Prasad, J) M.E.H./- U