GUWAHATI, India, Oct. 9 -- Gauhati High Court issued the following order on Sept. 9:

1. Heard Mr. S. Banik, learned counsel for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. S. P. Roy, learned counsel for the respondent No. 1. None appeared for respondent No. 2.

2. By filing this writ petition, the petitioners have challenged the order dated 21.10.2013, passed by the learned Appellate Authority in Appeal No. 13/2013, whereby the final assessment bill amount Rs. 7,22,617/- dated 13.03.2013, passed by the Area Manager, IRCA-II, Maligaon, Guwahati, is held to be erroneous thereby ordered that the said assessment bill be withdrawn and 50% payment made by the respondent No. 1 be adjusted against the monthly energy bills of the respondent's industry; and also the order dated 28.01.2014, passed by the Appellate Authority in Review Application No. 02/2013, whereby the review application filed by the petitioners is rejected.

3. The brief fact of the case is that pursuant to a complaint filed by one Shri Gokul Pathak alleging, inter alia, that the respondent No. 1 has been cheating the petitioners in payment of fixed charges by removing the specification plates and meters and showing the motors as underrated, the Vigilance team of the petitioners, under the supervision of the Chief Vigilance Officer and accompanied by MTI team of GEC-1 along with a police, inspected the factory premises of the respondent on 06.03.2013. During the inspection, the Junior Engineer of the respondent No. 1 was present and all the details of the motors and other machines installed at the factory were recorded in his presence.

4. During the inspection, following anomalies and irregularities were detected by the inspection team:

(i) The industry has a connected load of 425 KW on which fixed charge is levied. However, the gross total load on inspection was found to be 607.805 KW and therefore the industry was using excess load of 182.805 KW without paying the required fixed charge.

(ii) The installed equipments, namely, motors, ovens, heaters etc. were found without any specification plates, while in some cases the specification plates were found painted on top making them illegible and the same created doubt towards the allegation as regard manipulation of specification plates to facilitate underrating of the motors and thereby undervalue the fixed charge payable to the petitioner. The factory personnel failed to furnish any documents regarding the technical specification of the installed machines.

5. The engineers from MTI, in presence of the representative of the respondent No. 1, tested the load of the motor by standard reference meter/LT Accucheck and found 62 KW at full load on running condition, while the representative of the respondent No. 1 claimed the rating of the motor at 45 KW. The owner of the respondent factory was requested to furnish the relevant documents including technical specifications and names of the manufacturer/supplier of the installed machines. However, no documents were furnished by the respondent No. 1

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=lG6h6ilt3H1fOBr4DLdM9QQEilZRaIxeIxU1Ddim050YLLPBEdwGpW%2BfdSd2SNsI&caseno=WP(C)/1901/2014&cCode=1&cino=GAHC010008222014&state_code=6&appFlag=)

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