Gulfam vs State Of Uttarakhand And Others

Pankaj Purohit, J

This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner for a direction to respondent authorities to restore the electricity connection of petitioner's premises at Village Kunja Sahaspur, Herbertpur Tehsil, Vikasnagar, District Dehradun.

Learned counsel for petitioner submits that petitioner has a domestic electricity connection at his residence in his name. During a surprise inspection by the Vigilance team of UPCL, he was found committing theft of electricity on 13.02.2026, and on the basis of the report submitted by the Vigilance team, the electricity connection of the petitioner was disconnected immediately on 13.02.2026. On 18.02.2026, the use of unauthorized electricity was assessed, and the petitioner was served with a notice/letter dated 18.02.2026 (annexure-2 to the writ petition), wherein, he was informed that under Section 126 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), a sum of Rs. 93,863/- was provisionally assessed against him, and he was called upon to submit objections to the provisional assessment within a period of seven days from the date of receipt of the said notice/letter.

He further submits that petitioner, on the very next day after receipt of the aforesaid notice/letter i.e. 19.02.2026, submitted objection to the provisional assessment under Section 126(3) of the Act, however, till date, no final assessment has been made by the respondent-department. Petitioner, therefore, is still without the basic amenity of electricity due to the delay caused by respondent- department.

Learned counsel for petitioner on the previous date submitted that the objection of petitioner has not been considered by the respondent- authorities so far.

At this, learned counsel for respondents- UPCL was directed to get instructions by 04.05.2026 as to what had happened to the objection filed by petitioner.

Today, learned counsel for respondents- UPCL, on instruction, informed this Court that objection to the provisional assessment has already been decided by respondent-UPCL on 30.04.2026 and the copy of final assessment has already been served upon the learned counsel for petitioner.

He further informed that under Section 127 of the Act, Appeal is provided against the final assessment order and the petitioner is free to challenge the said final assessment order before learned District Magistrate, Dehradun.

He also informed this Court that that if the petitioner deposits the full amount of the final assessment to the respondent-department, his electricity connection can be restored and the deposit so made is subject to final outcome of the Appeal preferred by petitioner.

In such view of the matter, present writ petition is disposed of. Petitioner is at liberty to file the Appeal before the learned District Magistrate, Dehradun under Section 127 of the Act.

Pending application stands disposed of.