- (1.) The petitioner No. 1 Kumar Plastics Pvt. Ltd. a company incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 is a consumer of electricity supplied by the West Bengal State Electricity Board (hereinafter referred to as the Board). The petitioner No. 2 is the Managing Director of the petitioner No. 1 company. In this writ petition the petitioner has challenged the provisional assessment made by the Superintendent Engineer, Commercial, Howrah District Circle upon allegation of mal-practice/theft/pilferage of energy, assessing provisionally an amount of Rs. 47.71.704/- payable by the petitioner company and demanding immediate payment of 25% of the provisionally assessed amount upon threat of disconnection.
(2.) It has been stated in this writ petition that the metering apparatus installed by the Board for the purpose of recording consumption of electricity are in a room kept under the lock put by the Board and the key of the said room containing metering apparatus was in the custody of the Board at the material point of time. On or about January 6, 2003 several employees of the respondent No. 1 Board visited the petitioners factory, opened the look of the meter room with the key in their possession and checked the metering equipment. On the said date they did not make any kind of allegation against the petitioner company and left the factory premises locking the said room. On January 7, 2003 a team of staff of the Board came, opened the meter room, disconnected supply of electricity, removed the metering apparatus, drew up a seizure list and got it signed by two unskilled labourers of the factory. The respondent No. 1 thereafter raised a bill dated Jan. 16, 2003 for an aggregate amount of Rs. 1,22,800/- including the charge for alleged pilferage detected on Jan. 7, 2003. As the petitioners were in need of immediate restoration they immediately paid the said bill amount without prejudice. On Jan. 24, 2003 a new meter was installed in meter room and supply was restored to the factory. On Feb. 7, 2003 the impugned provisional assessment bill for a total amount of Rs. 47,71,704/- was served on the company. The assessment notice contained a direction to pay 25 per cent of the assessed amount for continuation of supply of electricity subject to final assessment.
(3.) The petitioners have denied the allegation of theft or pilferage of electricity and alleged that as the key of the meter room was with the officers of the respondent No. 1 Board, there could not be any tampering or interference with the metering apparatus by the petitioners or their men. The petitioners have raised a suspicion that when on Jan. 6, 2003 the employees of the Board opened the meter room without giving any notice and without calling anybody from the petitioner company the said employees might have tampered with the metering apparatus in order to foist a case of malpractice and pilferage and to extort money on such pretext.;