The Delhi Chief Secretary has been directed by a court here to file a report along with a solution to the "desperate" problem of lack of authorised recharging stations for e-rickshaws to stop electricity theft in the national capital.
Additional Sessions Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma pulled up the Power Secretary of Delhi, who was earlier asked to file a compliance report on the steps taken to prepare modalities to create legal recharging stations for e-rickshaws,
"... In this case, it is felt that people are being forced to commit theft of electricity due to non-availability of re-charging stations. Charging of e-rickshaws by stealing electricity or re-charging batteries from domestic connection is not justifiable.
"It will, therefore, be in interest of all that instead of shifting the burden and informing the court that it will take long to make policy for creating such stations or addressing this problem, a solution should be found at the earliest by all departments by working on priority, co-operating with each other so as to stop this menace instead of discussing the concurrent list under which the electricity falls or shifting burden from one department to the other," the court said.
It also said desperate problems need desperate solutions and "this menace is one such desperate problem".
The Power Secretary's counsel said that policy formation on providing recharging stations of e-rickshaws involves several departments including, Ministry of Urban Development, DDA, NDMC, MCD and power distribution companies in Delhi and it will take some time to frame permanent policy after holding discussion with them.
He also said framing policy in this regard will require change in rules and regulations in the Transport Department at the time of issuance of permits and rules of DERC on tariff.
Unhappy with the response, the court said shifting the burden by one department to another does not serve the purpose for which order this case was earlier passed.
It said the could would have been satisfied if its order would have been considered as a wake up call, instead of shifting burden to other department.
The court said issuing permits to ply e-rickshaws without facilities for recharging or parking them or other rules to make them disciplined is creating problems related to them.
It directed the Delhi Chief Secretary to look into the problem mentioned by the court in its March order and file a detailed report with solution instead of "providing another problem".
It also said that the copy of its order be sent to Delhi's Chief Secretary and Power Secretary, CEOs of power discoms BSES and TPDDL, Ministries of Transport and Urban Development.
While the two ministries have also been directed to file their status report on the issue within 10 days, the discoms' CEOs have been asked to be present and filed their suggestions and inputs on May 25 without seeking any adjournment.
The court observed that law does not distinguishes between poor and not so poor and while the poor man should not be oppressed, the rich should not be meted out with unjust treatment just because they are financially sound.
"In the present scenario, the poor are facing problems as they are forced to commit theft of electricity for recharging e-rickshaws because there is no legal point or place to recharge them. On the other hand, those who have the means, are troubled as they have to bear the brunt of higher tariff since commission of offence of theft of electricity, results into higher tariffs, power cuts etc," the judge said.
"It is learnt that about 10,000 permits for plying e-rickshaws have been issued in the State of Delhi. It is very strange that these permits have been issued without there being any policy in place as to how they will be re-charged. It is like issuing permits for plying petrol and diesel cars without even creating a single petrol pump," the court said.
The court had earlier noted that there were innumerable cases pending before it where it has been found that illegal charging of e-rickshaw batteries was going on in Delhi at places which were unauthorised for this purpose.
The court's order came in an electricity theft case against Titu, a Jahangir Puri resident, who was held guilty of committing theft of electricity through NDPL LV mains in 2014.
It was alleged that no electricity meter was found installed at the site and a load of 15.790 KW was connected for commercial purpose during the inspection.
