WP(C) 4955/2008 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE HRISHIKESH ROY Heard Mr. A. Sharma, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. G. Goswami, learned counsel representing the Railways. The 11 petitioners who are residents of the Maligaon Shuttle Gate Area within the jurisdiction of Jalukbari Police Station of Guwahati have approached this Court to challenge the order dated 13.8.08 passed by the Senior Section Eng ineer (Power) of the N.F. Railways, Maligaon whereby the electricity supply from the railways electrical network to the premises of the petitioners have been di sconnected on technical ground until further orders. It is averred by the Railway authorities that they had entrusted electrification works of railway quarters to M/s Usha Electrical and to enable the firm to exec ute the work, power supply in the area had to be shut down for about 4 hours on 29.7.08. Accordingly the power was shut down at about 1015 hours on 29.7.08 by s witching off power from the concerned sub-station. After the power switch off, one staff of M/s Usha Electrical Siva Das climbed th e pole to work on the feeder line and the said worker, got electrocuted, althoug h power was switched off, because of back feed supply from the high power genera tors used by the writ petitioners in their respective commercial establishments. Because of the aforesaid accident and because of the fact that the writ petition ers were using high voltage power generating sets without information to the pow er supplier which jeopardised the safety of the consumers and also the suppliers , the impugned order disconnecting the power supply was ordered. Mr. A. Sharma, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners on the other hand c ontends that they have been receiving power supplies from the Railway authoritie s since last more than 30 years and there has been no occasion when the supplier had to make any complaint about the non-payment of the dues for the supply made and under such circumstances, it would not be justified to deprive the petition ers from the benefit of electricity, for one solitary accident, which may have a lso been caused because of deployment of unskilled persons to work on the feeder line, by the firm engaged by the Railway authorities. It is also submitted by the petitioners that they are agreeable to furnish all i nformations about using backup power resources such as generators and inverters and are also ready to furnish appropriate undertaking to ensure that there is no misuse of the electricity supplied to them by the Railway authorities. The peti tioners are also prepared to give an undertaking to take all safety measures to ensure that no life of any worker or consumers is endangered supply of power is resumed to them. To prevent recurrence of similar accidents, the petitioners are also ready to gi ve advance information to the Railways of any use of any high power device to me et special exigencies, so that the Railway authorities are posted with all neces sary informations to ensure the safety of all concerned. I find in this case that the supply of Power to the petitioners have been discon nected only on the technical reason of the petitioners using high voltage electr ical generators as an alternate power supply device which endangers the safety o f power workers and consumers. I also find that the Railway authorities on their own have been supplying power to a large number of consumers within the Railway Colony area where power supply is not available through the normal supplier i.e . the Assam State Electricity Board. Therefore I deem it appropriate to dispose off this writ petition by directing t he Railway authorities to seek appropriate undertaking and information from the writ petitioners to ensure safety and prevent misuse and once these are furnishe d by the petitioners, the Railway authorities may act on such undertakings and i nformation furnished by the petitioners. Thereafter the Railways may lay down ap propriate conditions to ensure that safety of consumers or power workers are not jeopardised and then resume supply of power to the petitioners. After the requisite informations and undertakings are furnished by the petitione rs, the Railway authorities would take necessary steps from their side in the ma tter within 3 weeks thereafter. The case stands disposed off in terms of the above order.