HC orders restoration ofpower at SP MP’s house

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has directed to restore the electricity connection at the residence of Samajwadi Party MP of Sambhal Zia Ur Rehman Barq which was disconnected in Dec 2024.Passing above directions to Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, the court also stayed the final assessment order imposing on him electricity charges of Rs. 1.91 crores for a period of 4,138 days upon the allegation of unauthorised use of electricity.Hearing a writ petition filed by Zia Ur Rehman, a division bench, comprising Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Sandeep Jain fixed July 2 for the next hearing of the case.Barq had moved the HC against the assessment order on the ground that the same was passed entirely without jurisdiction as it imposed an assessment for over 12 years, when Section 126(5) of the Electricity Act only allowed imposition of charges for a maximum of 12 months in cases where the period of unauthorized usage was non-determinable.It was also contended that the final assessment order also demanded payment of electricity duty and compounding charges, which the authority had no jurisdiction to impose.Apart from above, it was also argued that by breaching the statutory period of assessment, an arbitrary demand of Rs 1.91 crore had been raised and that the petitioner cannot be made to deposit 50% of such illegal demand to maintain an appeal.Fixing July, 2, 2025, for next hearing, the court in its order dated June 4 stayed the final assessment subject to the petitioner depositing Rs 6 lakh within two weeks. It also directed the restoration of the electricity connection of the petitioner, subject to the timely payment of future bills.As per the statement of executive engineer, UPPCL in Sambhal, two meters at Barq's residence were found showing zero readings for the last six months and the units consumed did not exceed 100 in any of the remaining months last year. However, during the inspection, it was allegedly found that electricity consumption in his house exceeded 16 kilowatts daily, despite the sanctioned connection being only 4 kilowatts.