‘Electricity theft’ case: Allahabad HC ordered restoration of power supply to Sambhal MP Barak’s house; Call your Rs 1.91 crore fine ‘arbitrary’. Bharat News
New Delhi: Allahabad High Court has directed Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) to restore the power supply in the house of Samjwadi Party (SP) Lok Sabha Member, Zia UR Rehman Barq.A division bench of Justice Soumitra Dayal Singh and Sandeep Jain passed an order on a writ petition by Barak in the case of power theft. It also described UPPCL’s fine of Rs 1.91 crore on the SP leader on allegations of power theft as “arbitrary”.According to the news agency PTI, “The submission is that even though the inspection report and adverse facts have been allegedly accepted, there was no jurisdiction with the defendant officers to evaluate for a period of 12 years.”“The maximum period for which may have been evaluated may not exceed one year. By violating the statutory period of the evaluation, a completely unnatural and arbitrary demand of Rs 1 crore and Rs 91 lakh has been increased. The petitioner cannot be created to deposit 50% of such illegal demand to maintain the appeal,” this is said.However, the bench asked BARQ to deposit a permissible amount of Rs. 6 lakhs to maintain his appeal, gave him two weeks to do so. Through his lawyer, he presented that he is ready to deposit money.The court then gave UPPCL three weeks to file his reply in the case and set the next hearing for July 2.In December 2024, the Electricity Department imposed a fine on BARQ after an inspection at its residence in the Deepa Sarai area of Sambhal, where the authorities allegedly discovered power theft. Separately, the politician faced allegations of inciting violence in Sambhal during protests related to a survey related to a court order of a court of Shahi Jama Masjid in November last year.
