Vivekananda Dey v. The Chairman, Wbsedcl & ORS

20.01.2021 IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Sl. No.10 CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION (PP) APPELLATE SIDE WPA 2044 of 2020 Vibekananda Dey Vs.

The Chairman, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited & Ors.

Mr. Sailendra Nath Chakraborti ....for the petitioner.

Mr. Saurav Chaudhuri ....for WBSEDCL.

The petitioner alleges that the meter allotted to the petitioner and installed at the petitioner's premises through which the petitioner enjoys electricity supplied by WBSEDCL is defective and the bills raised by WBSEDCL are erroneous and inflated. The petitioner, therefor, has disputed the bills raised by WBSEDCL, the licensee.

On behalf of WBSEDCL, it is submitted that the meter of the petitioner was replaced on 4th March, 2019 pursuant to a complaint made by the petitioner. Even thereafter, the petitioner has not paid the subsequent bills. The outstanding bill dated 20th November, 2018 which was disputed by the petitioner is for an aggregate sum of Rs.1,97,859/-. Since the meter has been replaced, the petitioner cannot have any more grievance as to the meter being defective and,

therefor, should pay all bills raised subsequent to 4th March, 2019. WBSEDCL, however, is not able to say which are the other bills apart from the bill dated 20th November, 2018 that remains outstanding.

Any bill dispute is required to be heard and decided by the Regional Grievance Redressal Officer (in short RGRO).

The petitioner is permitted to approach the concerned RGRO by 31st January, 2021 raising disputes as regards the bill dated 20th November, 2018 and any other subsequent bills raised by WBSEDCL till date, save those in respect of which payment has already been made.

The concerned RGRO, if approached, should decide the petitioner's complaint within a period of two months from the date of filing of the complaint by the petitioner after giving reasonable hearing to the parties. The RGRO shall pass a reasoned order and communicate the same to the parties within seven days from the date of passing of the order.

It is made clear that WBSEDCL will be free to take all steps as permissible in law in case of any arrears are left by the petitioner in respect of bills raised for the period subsequent to the date of passing of this order.

Nothing further remains to be adjudicated in this writ petition. The same is disposed of accordingly without any order as to costs.

Since I have not called for any affidavits, allegations made in the writ petition are deemed to have not been admitted.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the parties on usual undertakings.

(Arindam Mukherjee, J.)