- (1.) THE present writ petition has been filed for the following reliefs : (i) For issuance of a writ of certiorari quashing the order dated 8-5-2002 passed by the General Manager-cum-Chief engineer, Singhbhum Area, Jamshedpur, whereby he has illegally decided the representation in favour of respondent No. 2 without hearing the representative of the petitioner and without properly considering the materials/documents available on record. (ii) For issuance of a writ of mandamus commanding upon the General Manager-cum-Chief Engineer, Singhbhum Area, jamshedpur, to decide the matter afresh after giving proper opportunity of hearing to both the sides i. e. the petitioner and respondent No. 2 and going through all possible aspects in relation to pilferage of electrical energy done by respondent No. 2.
(2.) THE facts, in brief, are set out as under : the petitioner is a statutory body constituted under Section 5 of the Electric (Supply) Act, 1948 and respondent No. 1 is the general Manager-cum-Chief Engineer, who has passed the impugned order dated 8-5-2002, sought to be challenged in this writ petition, pursuant to the direction issued by this Court on 12-4-2002 in C. W. J. C. No. 1620 of 2001. Respondent No. 2 is the consumer of Jharkhand State Electricity Board under High Tension Tariff having a contract demand of 800 KVA. On 25-4-1996 a Committee, constituted by the then General Manager-cum-Chief engineer inspected the premises of respondent no. 2 and noticed that no current was flowing in 'r' phase of the said Electric Meter installed in the premises, although the plant of respondent No. 2 was availing the electricity and functioning properly. The members of the Committee have visited the premises in the evening and, thus, the actual cause of fault could not be found out and they again visited the premises on the next day i. e. 26-4-1996 and inspected C. T. /p. T. Combined Metering Unit.
(3.) ON inspection it was detected that the incoming jumper of the meter 'r' phase has been snapped and melted with the outgoing jumper in the Metering Unit of the same phase. A report was accordingly given by the committee that due to the aforesaid reason no current was flowing in the 'r' phase of the meter. Pursuant to the said inspection and on detecting the pilferage of electrical energy, a bill under Clause 16. 9 (A) of the tariff Notification, 1993 amounting to Rs. 2,70,44,345/-was issued against respondent No. 2 on 4-5-1996 for the period october, 1995 to March, 1996. In addition to this, an F. I. R was also lodged with the local police station for pilferage of electricity. The same was challenged by respondent No. 2 before the Ranchi Bench of Patna High court, as it then was, vide C. W. J. C. No. 1536 of 1996 (R ). The then Ranchi Bench of patna High Court disposed of the writ petition vide its order dated 21-5-1996 with a direction to respondent No. 2 to make a detailed representation before the General manager-cum-Chief Engineer, who was directed to dispose of the representation after affording an opportunity of hearing. It also directed respondent No. 2 to deposit Rs. 25,00,000/- for restoration of its electrical line.;