BSES to pay Rs 2L for depriving customer of power for 6 years

BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd has been directed by the apex consumer commission to pay Rs two lakh compensation to a customer for "wrongly" depriving him of an electricity connection for "six long years".
The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission's (NCDRC) order came on an appeal of Delhi resident Purshottam Behl, who had challenged the Delhi State Consumer Commission's decision of not awarding him compensation while allowing his complaint against the discom.
He had filed the complaint against BSES for raising an illegal demand of over Rs 2.4 lakh in power dues from him and then disconnecting his commercial electricity connection in 1998 for not paying the same.

The state commission in November 2007 had quashed the discom's demand as "unjustified and illegal", but had not awarded any compensation to Behl.
"We agree with the order of the state commission that the respondent (BSES) had wrongly disconnected appellant's (Behl) power supply and, therefore, the sum of Rs 2,42,998 demanded by it was not justified.
"... The appellant needs to be compensated for the six long years during which period he was wrongly deprived of the electricity connection. We are of the view that a compensation of Rs two lakh is justified and reasonable," a bench presided by Justice Ashok Bhan said.

In his plea before the NCDRC, Behl had argued that though the demand raised by the discom was quashed by the commission, it had not awarded him compensation for the six-year period -- from 1998 till 2004 -- when he was deprived of a power connection.
While his plea was pending before the state commission, Behl, in 2004, had obtained a commercial power connection in his son's name, he had said.
BSES had submitted before the NCDRC that it had accepted the 2007 order of the state commission, but as two commercial connections cannot be sanctioned for one premises, they had not restored Behl's connection which was cut in 1998 as by then he was getting electricity in his son's name.