Electricity Act, 2003 – ss.135 and 152 – Respondent No.2BSES alleged that the appellant had committed theft of electricity and sent a bill of Rs.3,54,598.21/- – Appellant failed to pay the bill amount – Respondent No.2 filed FIR against the appellant u/s.135 of the Act – However, appellant and Respondent No.2 settled the matter in the Special Lok Adalat for a total sum of Rs.1,60,000/- – Appellant filed petition u/s.482 Cr.P.C. to quash FIR filed against him – High Court dismissed the petition – On appeal, held: The High Court did not examine the issue in the light of s.152 of the Act – Thus, case remanded to the High Court for deciding the petition afresh, keeping in view the provisions of s.152 of the Act. Allowing the appeals, the Court
HELD: 1. Respondent No.1 rightly pointed out that the issue in question needs to be decided in the light of Section 152 of the Act, which deals with compounding of offences under the Electricity Act, 2003. [Para 14] [702-F]
2. Since the High Court did not examine the issue in the light of Section 152 of the Act, this Court considers it proper to remand the case to the High Court to examine the issue afresh keeping in view the provisions of Section 152 of the Act and then pass appropriate orders as the case may require on the facts involved therein in accordance with law. [Para 15] [702-G-H]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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