S. Muralidhar, J.

1. This petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘CrPC’) challenges an order dated 14th March, 2006 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Karkardooma, Delhi (‘Special Judge’) under the Electricity Act, 2003 (‘Act’) in Criminal Complaint No. 217 of 2005 whereby the application filed by the Petitioner under Section 152 of the Act for compounding the offences was dismissed.

2. The brief facts are that the Petitioner resides at premises bearing No. 119-C, 6 Lane, Central Avenue, Sainik Farm, New Delhi and states that he was drawing the electricity through the captive power plant installed by his brother. It is further stated that the wife of the Petitioner had applied for electricity connection on 23rd June, 1997 but till date the electricity connection has not been installed. On 24th August, 2005 the officials of the BSES Rajdhani Power Limited ("BRPL") visited the premises of the Petitioner and it was found that he was illegally using the electricity supply by directly tapping from the LV mains. On that basis the Petitioner was served with a direct theft bill for Rs. 2,52,074/-.

3. According to the Petitioner, he was never