1. By this judgment, I am disposing of ten appeals bearing Nos. RSA 3283 of 1997 to 3292 of 1997 as the points of fact and law are similar in all these appeals. It may be relevant to note here that vide order dated 7-5-1998, it was made clear that all these appeals will be finally disposed of.

2. Briefly stated the facts of the case are that one Executive Engineer/Flying Squad had checked the premises of the plaintiff in all these cases and it was found that two connections bearing No. MS-1/45 and MS-1/47 were installed in the same premises though each of the two meters were in the name of separate persons who happen to be real brothers. The appellant-department took the view that since both the meters have been installed at the same premises, both the meters were required to be clubbed together. After the checking by the Executive Engineer/Flying Squad, the SDO (Billing) of the appellant-department sent the supplementary bills for recovery of the amount on the basis that both the meters should be clubbed together. These supplementary bills were challenged by the respondent-plaintiffs in the ten suits filed before the learned trial Court which have given rise to these appea