IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.2273 of 2009 MD.FARID Versus BIHAR STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD& ----------- 2/ 17.02.2009 Heard learned counsel for the parties. The grievance of the petitioner in this writ application can easily be bifurcated into two parts. So far first part of the grievance of the petitioner is concerned, it is with regard to excessive billing. Such excess billing in fact, can be looked into initially by the billing authorities and if the grievance of petitioner in this regard still persists the same may be agitated by the petitioner before the statutory Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum constituted by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission under Section 42(5) of Electricity Act, 2003. There is also no dispute that such a Dispute Redressal Forum for this very purpose in terms of Section 42(5) of the Electricity Act, 2003 is already functional and therefore if the petitioner does not get appropriate relief before the billing authority, he would have always a liberty to move before the aforesaid Forum which will decide the dispute in - 2 - accordance with law. The second part of the grievance of the petitioner is that even when the electric meter fitted in the premises is in working condition and recording correct reading, the same has not been made the basis for preparation of the bill. This being the matter within the jurisdiction of the Electrical Executive Engineer of the Electric Supply Division, Bankipur, needs to be verified and examined by him. This Court would however express no opinion on merit on such claim of petitioner keeping in view that the representation filed by the petitioner is pending consideration before the General Manager-cum-Chief Engineer. It would however be necessary for the court to observe that if an electric meter is fitted and is in working condition, obviously the bills have to be raised in terms of recordings of the consumption in the said meter and/or the Tariff of the Board notified from time to time. The petitioner for this purpose may approach the Electrical Executive Engineer, Bankipur along with a copy of this order and it is expected that the said Electrical Executive Engineer will take an - 3 - appropriate decision within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt or production of the copy of this order. It is however made clear that neither this Court has gone into the merits of this part of claim of the petitioner nor this Court will interfere with any an adverse decision taken by the Electrical Executive Engineer, Bankipur as the petitioner will still have a remedy before the Dispute Redressal Forum. With the aforementioned observations and directions, this writ application is disposed of. (Mihir Kumar Jha, J.) chauhan