24.2.14

Delhi HC stays AAP's paap

The Delhi high court stayed the AAP government’s February 12 decision to give a 50% waiver on pending electricity bills of 24,036 consumers.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice B D Ahmed and Justice Sidharth Mridul suspended the waiver after going through an affidavit where the government admitted some departments have objected to the scheme.
“What is your (the government’s) stand now? What is your proposed action now? Are you going to carry the decision or not?” the bench demanded while issuing a notice for March 18.
In its affidavit, the government informed the high court that comments were sought from the legal, finance and planning departments on the proposed waiver, as well as withdrawal of the theft cases against defaulters.
While the law department said such a waiver can only be given prospectively and not retrospectively as per the statute, Electricity Act, 2003, the planning department had said the proposed exemption was “not appropriate” as it will be “tantamount to rewarding defaulters at the cost of honest and regular paying consumers”. The finance department too had objected saying “it will give an advantage to the defaulters and thus create a bad precedent”, the affidavit conceded.
The Delhi cabinet had approved the proposal “to provide 50% relief on pending arrears to the tune of Rs 6,821 crore” and to direct the finance department to allocate funds as well as inform Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission of the decision.
These consumers had stopped paying their bills during the Aam Aadmi Party’s “bijli satyagraha”.
The bench was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Vivek Narayan Sharma seeking quashing of the Delhi government’s decision to close cases of power theft registered against 2,508 consumers last year. The plea argued that such action by the government amounts to “sponsoring and abetting criminal/terrorism acts and acts against rule of law and constitution”.
Shortly after its formation, the Aam Aadmi Party launched “bijli satyagraha” alleging that power bills in the capital are inflated. As part of the campaign, Kejriwal urged people to stop paying their power bills, the plea said. About 24,036 consumers stopped paying their bills reportedly from October 2012 to December 2013. During this period, the authorities disconnected 2,508 electricity meters due to non-payment of bills and these people started to steal power.
The PIL said numerous theft cases were initiated against consumers which are pending in courts. The AAP government had also announced it would waive off the penalties for defaulters. The plea claimed AAP and its leaders were enticing the public to follow no rule, and the estimated loss to public exchequer because of the move was around Rs 6 crore.
Meanwhile, HC also directed the petitioner, Vivek Sharma, to amend his plea by removing former CM Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia from the list of parties. HC had, on February 19, passed the order as there was “no clarity” on whether the Delhi cabinet had taken a decision to implement the subsidy as claimed by Sharma.

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