JUDGMENT

G.S. Singhvi. J.—

1. Whether the respondent, who was a consumer of electricity supplied by Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board [for short, “the Board”] (predecessor of appellant No.1 herein) is liable to pay minimum charges in terms of second proviso to para 11 of agreement dated 21st September, 1998 read with Clause 1? (ii) of the Electricity Supply (Consumers) Regulations, 1984 [for short, “the Regulations”] after disconnection of the supply of electricity is the question which arises for consideration in this appeal.

2. The respondent had set up a factory at Rudrapur, District Udham Singh Nagar, which now forms part of the State of Uttarakhand for manufacture of PVC and EPDM rubber profiles for automobile vehicles. In 1990, the Board sanctioned electric connection of 400 ‘r0JA load for the respondent’s factory. Thereafter, as per the requirement of the Regulations, the respondent entered into an agreement with the Board. On 12th February, 1997, the respondent applied for an additional load of 200 KVA, which was duly sanctioned. As a sequel to this, fresh agreement was executed between the parties for the total load of 600 ‘r0J A. After one year and seven months, the r