IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF DECEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO : 19370 of 2008 Between: M/s. Nalamati Sea Foods Pvt. Ltd., Seesali, Kalla Mandal, Bhimavaram - 534 237 West Godavari District, rep. by its Managing Director Mr.N.Janakiramaiah. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 M/s. Eastern Power Distribution Company of A.P. Ltd., Visakhapatnam, rep. by its Managing Director. 2 The Superintending Engineer, Operation Circle, Eastern Power Distribution Company of A.P. Limited, Eluru, West Godavari District, A.P. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or direction declaring the action of the Respondents in withholding the refund of the security deposit amount of Rs.6,82,400/- relating to H.T. Service No.ELR 328 of the petitioner as arbitrary, illegal, without jurisdiction, contrary to the terms and conditions of supply and the laws governing the supply of electrical energy and consequently direct the respondents to refund the security deposit amount to the petitioner forthwith with interest @ 12% p.a. from 15.09.2007 onwards till date of payment. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.P.GIRISH KUMAR Counsel for the Respondents: O.MANOHAR REDDY(SC FOR APTRANSCO) The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU W.P. No. 19370 of 2008 O R D E R: This writ petition is filed seeking a Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in withholding refund of the security deposit amount of Rs.6,82,400/- relating to H.T. Service No. ELR 328 of the petitioner as arbitrary, illegal and contrary to the terms of supply and the laws governing the supply of electrical energy; consequently, to direct the respondents to refund the security deposit amount to the petitioner, forthwith, with interest at the rate of 12% per annum from 15.9.2007 onwards till the date of payment. The facts are not much in dispute. It appears, the petitioner purchased a closed down Industrial Unit from 3rd party. By that time, the electricity meter connected to the Unit was already burnt out and electricity was not supplied for more than two months and the petitioner got the electricity supply restored on 4.7.1999. While that being so, on 31.12.2002 a back-billing assessment order was issued in the name of the petitioner’s vendor for Rs.2,38,529/-. However, the petitioner challenged the said order by way of W.P. 25087 of 2003. The said writ petition was allowed setting aside the impugned assessment order therein. The respondents, being aggrieved by the order made in the said writ petition, filed W.A. No. 909 of 2005 and the same is pending, but no stay of the order passed by the learned single Judge was granted. It appears, after filing this writ petition, the respondents have moved an application in the writ appeal, seeking an interim order permitting them to withhold an amount of Rs.2,38,529/-. The said application is still pending and was directed to be posted along with the writ appeal. In the facts and circumstances of the case and in view of the pendency of the writ appeal, to meet the ends of justice I deem it proper to direct the respondents to refund the balance amount from Rs,6,82,400/-, after deducting the disputed amount, which is the subject matter of writ appeal, i.e. Rs.2,38,529/-, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. No costs. C.V. RAMULU, J. Date: 24-12-2008. MVB.