IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTIETH DAY OF JANUARY TWO THOUSAND AND FIVE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.PRAKASH RAO WRIT PETITION NO : 17541 of 1998 Between: A.Suryanarayana Reddy, S/o. Yellareddy, Chaitanya Slab Polishing Industry (SC No.295), Kanakadripalli, Kolimigundla Mandal, Kurnool District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Chief Engineer, A.P.State Electricity Board, Cuddapah Zone, Cuddapah, Cuddapah District. 2 The Superintending Engineer (Assessments), A.P.State Electricity Board, Cuddapah, Cuddapah District. 3 The Assistant Divisional Engineer (Operations), A.P.State Electricity Board, CCO Sub-Division, Banaganapalli, Kurnool District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ or Order or Direction directing the Respondents to restore power supply to the Petitioner industry with SC No.295 by declaring the order passed by the 2nd Respondent in proceeding No.SE/O/CDP/FAO/025/97-98/F.NDL/D.No.945/98, dated 23-3-1998 as confirmed by the 1st Respondent in Lr.No.CE/CZ/CDP/O & P/221/A.75/98.KNL/2961/98, Dt. 30-5-1998 as arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.T.NIRANJAN REDDY Counsel for the Respondents : SMT.M.VINOBHA DEVI The Court made the following : O R D E R : Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri N.Subba Reddy, learned senior counsel for Smt. M.Vinobha Devi, standing counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents. The petitioner, who is running a polishing industry, seeks to assail the impugned orders dated 23.03.1998 of the second respondent assessing the amount for pilferage of energy at Rs.9,36,155/- and as revised by the first respondent as per order dated 30.05.1998 reducing the same to Rs.6,65,354/-, having found certain irregularities during the inspection conducted on 14.11.1997. The main submission made in this Writ Petition is that in the present case, the authorities have taken working hours as ‘9’, instead of ‘6’ as has been followed in several other similarly situated industries. It is the specific plea that in the neighbouring industry, the authorities have fixed the consumption as ‘6’ hours while assessing the liability. Having considering the submissions made and on perusal of the material, it is seen that having regard to the findings of fact arrived at by both the authorities in respect of the allegations made against the petitioner, it is not open for this court to reassess or come to any different conclusion on facts, in exercise of powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. However, by taking into consideration the fact in regard to the consumption time assessing the same at ‘9’ hours instead of ‘6’ hours, which remained undisputed, the amount as arrived at by the second respondent can as well be reduced by 25%. The Writ Petition is, accordingly, partly allowed reducing the assessed amount from Rs. 6,65,354/- to Rs. 4,99,016/-. No costs. It is needless to mention that any amounts already paid by the petitioner, shall be given credit to the amount arrived at in this Writ Petition. ----------------------- (B.Prakash Rao, J.) 20.01.2005. DRK That Rule Nisi has been made absolute as above. Witness the Hon’ble Sri Devinder Gupta, the Chief Justice On Thursday, the twentieth day of January Two thousand and five. … Registrar Copy to: 1 The Chief Engineer, A.P.State Electricity Board, Cuddapah Zone, Cuddapah, Cuddapah District. 2 The Superintending Engineer (Assessments), A.P.State Electricity Board, Cuddapah, Cuddapah District. 3 The Assistant Divisional Engineer (Operations), A.P.State Electricity Board, CCO Sub-Division, Banaganapalli, Kurnool District. 4 Two CD copies. THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.PRAKASH RAO WRIT PETITION NO : 17541 of 1998 20.01.2005