Agra: The court of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) in Aligarh has issued notices to senior officials and engineers of UP power department and summoned nine of them before it on April 27 following a complaint by a city-based lawyer stating that his household was left without power supply since it was “unlawfully abruptly cut before the payment date”.Anoop Kaushik, a former general secretary of Aligarh Bar Association, claimed his home’s electricity smart meter was disconnected as the “power department replaced the old postpaid meter with a prepaid one without prior notice”. “We couldn’t fill the water tank or use the bathroom, and had to depend on our neighbours. My family went through a nightmare for 24 hours,” Kaushik alleged.According to the lawyer, the electricity department sent him a bill of Rs 3,185 for Feb with payment deadline of March 22, and disconnection date as March 29. But days before the due date, the supply suddenly stopped, he alleged. He added that despite depositing Rs 5,000 on March 17 and Rs 2,000 the next day, the power supply wasn’t restored till that afternoon.Kaushik lodged an online complaint with the power department on March 19. He approached the local police as well. In his police complaint dated April 3, he alleged the power connection was unlawfully converted to a prepaid meter without his consent or prior notice.He pointed out that under section 47 (5) of Electricity Act, 2003, consumers have the right to choose between prepaid and postpaid billing, and that consent is mandatory, especially as the matter is under consideration in various apex court rulings.On April 6, Kashik moved an application before the CJM court under the BNSS section 175 (3), which empowers “a magistrate to order a police investigation into cognizable offences, if police fail to register an FIR”.Confirming the development, Arvind Nayak, a senior official at Aligarh’s power department, said that they were aware of the matter and would present their side before the court on the scheduled date.
