SC comes down heavily on power thieves, enhances fines

New Delhi, Nov 4 (UNI) Coming down heavily on power thieves, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment, has enhanced the fine imposed on three industrialists from Rs 40,000 to Rs three lakh against two and from Rs 20,000 to Rs two lakh against the woman partner of the firm found stealing power to run their industries.

A bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and Dalveer Bhandari, in their judgment on Thursday, noted that the ''large-scale theft of electricity is a very alarming problem faced by all the State Electricity Boards in our country which is causing loss to the state revenue running in hundreds of crores every year.'' ''In our considered view, after proper adjudication of the cases of all those who are found to be guilty of the offence of committing theft of electricity, apart from the sentence of conviction, the court should invariably impose a heavy fine making theft of electricity a wholly non-profitable venture. The most effective step to curb this tendency, perhaps, could be to discontinue supply of electricity to those consumers temporarily or permanently for those who have been caught abstracting electricity in a clandestine manner on more than one occasion. The Legislature may consider incorporating this suggestion as a form of punishment by amending section 39 of the Indian Electricity Act 1910,'' they said.

Jagmodhan Mehatabsing Gujral, Managing Director of Nanda Glass Industries Pvt Ltd, located in Taluka Bhor, Pune, Mrs Rupender Kaur and Harcharanpal Singh Nanda -- all partners in Technoframes -- were sentenced to three months imprisonment while a fine of Rs 40,000 each was imposed on Gujral and Nanda while Mrs Kaur was fined Rs 20,000 by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Pune on December 21, 1996.

The premises of both Technoframes as well as Nanda Glass factory were raided by a team of Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) on the night of April 4, 1989 on the basis of secret information that the two were stealing power on a large scale. During the raids, the meters were found tampered with and two wires were found removed so that correct consumtion of power could not be recorded. The two were found to have committed the theft of electricity worth Rs 16,50, 000. Nanda Glass was found to have stolen 10,00,000 units while Technoframes had stolen 5,00,000 units.

The appeals of the accused were dismissed by the sessions court as well as by the Bombay High Court.

The apex court also observed that on consideration of the ''peculiar facts and circumstances of the case,'' where the appellants have already served out part of their sentence and instead of compelling them to serve out the remaining sentence after a lapse of 17 years, ''in the interests of justice, we deem it appropriate to increase the fine from Rs 40,000 each to Rs three lakh each in case of Gujral and Nanda and from Rs 20,000 to Rs two lakh under section 39 of the Act in case of Mrs Rupender Kaur Harcharanpalsing.'' ''The appellants are further sentenced to pay a fine of Rs 5000 each under section 44 of the Act,'' the bench said, adding that the fine would have to be deposited within eight weeks, and if the appellants have deposited the fine imposed by the courts below, than only the balance will have to be deposited.

Dismissing the appeal, the court finally directed that in case the amount of the fine, as directed by this court under sections 39&44 of the Act, was not deposited within the stipulated time, then the appellants shall be taken into custody to serve out the remaining part of their sentence as imposed by the trial court and upheld in the impugned judgment by the high court.

UNI AKS/SC VD VV1801