- (1.) A very interesting question has arisen in this writ. The question is: Whether the writ petitioner company ( hereinafter 'the writ petitioner' ) the present owner of a premises can be compelled to pay the electricity dues of the previous owner aggregating to Rs. 8,59,088.99 as a condition precedent to getting supply of electricity?
(2.) I will first elucidate on the law, before entering into the facts.
(3.) There are certain liabilities like land revenue and municipal tax which are attached to the property as a charge. They can be recovered from the owner of the property by an action in personam or by sale of the charged property. Outstanding electricity consumption charges is not one of those liabilities which are attached to the property. Electricity supply is made as a result of a pure and simple contractual relationship between the licensee and the consumer of electricity. The relationship is controlled by statute. Normally, only the parties bound by the contract are liable. In other words, electricity dues are recoverable from the consumer of electricity only. The Supreme Court has held in this way in the case of Isha Marbles v. Bihar State Electricity Board & Anr., 1995 2 SCC 648. The exception to this principle is found in the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (Electric Supply Code). It is in clause 3.4.2 thereof which provides that if the licensee is able to establish a 'nexus' between the erstwhile owner and the present owner, then they are entitled to recover the dues of the erstwhile owner from the present. Justice Dipankar Datta in Shree Krishna paper Mills & Anr. v. The West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. & Ors., 2010 3 CalLT 151 held that the onus to prove 'nexus' was on the respondent licensee. In Rashi Metals Pvt. Ltd. v. West Bengal State Electricity Board & Ors., 2007 1 CalHN 210 Mr. Justice Girish Chandra Gupta opined that there may be circumstances when the dues of the erstwhile owner were so very closely known by the present buyer of the property, that the onus of proving there was no 'nexus' shifted to the present owner of the property.;