The existence of artificial means of abstraction of electrical energy constitutes prima facie evidence of dishonest abstraction under Section 39 of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910, and the burden lies on the accused to rebut the presumption of theft arising from such artificial means.

G.N.Prasad, J.

1. These appeals and revisions involve similar questions of law and fact, and they have been heard together with the consent of the parties and for the sake of convenience. They arise out of four separate trials, in each of which the charges framed against the various accused persons were mainly for offences under Sections 39 and 44 of the Indian Electricity Act (Act X of 1910), 1910 (hereafter to be referred to as the Act) and Rule 138 read with Rule 56 of the Indian Electricity Rules (hereafter to be referred to as the Rules) framed by the Central Electricity Board under Section 37 of the Act.

2. All the four prosecutions were launched on different dates in June and July, 1958, at the instance of the Chief Engineer of the Patna Electric Supply Company Limited, who at the relevant time, was Sri B.S. Ramaswami, and in the following circumstances:

3. The Patna Electric Supply Company Limited (hereinafter to be referred to as the PESCO) generates electrical energy and also purchases such energy from the Bihar State Electricity Board. The total quantity of the energy so generated and purchased by the PESCO came to about forty lacs units per month in 1958. In that year the PESCO supplied electrical energy to about 20,000 consumers in Patna, Patna City and Dinapur, about 900 of whom were industrial power consumers. under Section 26. of the Act read with Rule 57 of the Rules, the PESCO was under a duty to supply to their consumers what are known as "correct meters", that is to say, meters capable of recording consumption of electrical energy within a limited margin of error, not exceeding three per cent, above or below absolute accuracy, at all loads in excess of l/10th of full load and up to full load. Rule 57(2) of the Rules lays down that no meter shall register at no load, The system followed by the PESCO was to test the meter before its installation in the premises of its consumers, with a view to ensure that it was capable of recording consumption within the margin of error permissible under Rule 5/. Only such meters used to be supplied to the consumers which passed the above test.

4. It is necessary to have some idea of the mechanism of a meter. Inside the meter there is a disc, which rotates when the current passes through the meter and the consumption of energy is registered by a set of dials. The outer cover of a meter is known as the meter cover. It is designed to prevent the free movement of the disc or the dials from being obstructed or interfered with by any artificial means or device from outside. Every meter has 4 nuts, two on each side of it, with corresponding stud holes through which the meter cover can be fixed, and after placing the meter cover in position, the nuts of each of the four stud holes are tightened up fully. When fully tightened up, stud holes are blocked completely by the lower projection of the stud nuts, thus not permitting anything, not even dust or moisture, to pass inside the meter. Each stud and each nut has a hole in it, which is meant for sealing the meter. For the purpose of sealing the meter, a piece of wire has to be passed through the stud hole and the corresponding nut on each side. Then the wife is twisted, and one end of it is passed through the holes of the opposite stud and nut, and the same end of the wire is then joined with the loose end of it and twisted. Thereafter both the ends are sealed together by means of special kind of lead, seals. So long as the wires and seals are intact, the nuts cannot be screwed up or loosened and, therefore, the stud holes cannot be exposed. In order to expose the stud-hole of a sealed meter, it would be necessary first to break the seal and to take out the sealing wire after untwisting it, and then to take it out from the holes of the nut and the stud. Thereafter, the nut can be screwed up or loosened, thereby exposing the stud-hole. Once the stud-hole is exposed, it is possible to insert a wire, or dust or moisture, inside