Hon’ble Tarun Agarwala, J.—We have heard Sri Harish Chandra Singh,the learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Krishna Agarawal, the learned counsel for the Electricity Department.

2. The petitioner applied for an electric connection for the purpose of running a tubewell. After completion of necessary formalities an electric connection was granted by the Electricity Department on 14.4.2015.

3. It transpires that the Electricity Department carried out an inspection and found that the petitioner was using the electricity unauthorizedly by-passing the meter and using it for running an “Aata Chakki”. An inspection report dated 3.6.2015 was filed, based on which a provisional assessment order was issued on 12.6.2015 for a sum of Rs. 5,73,682/-. The petitioner filed its objection on 20.7.2016, which was considered and rejected and a final assessment order for a sum of Rs. 5,73,682/-was passed on 27.10.2015. A recovery citation dated 20.8.2016 was issued. The petitioner, being aggrieved by the recovery citation and the final assessment order has filed the present writ petition.

4. A perusal of the final assessment order dated 27.10.2015 indicates that the calculation has been made on the basis of a formula contained in Annexure-6.3 prescribed under the Electricity Supply Code, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as the Code).

5. In order to understand the controversy it would be relevant to mention a few provisions of the Act and the Code. Assessment is required to be made under Section 126 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). Section 126(5) of the Act states as under:

“(5) If the assessing officer reaches to the conclusion that unauthorised use of electricity has taken place, the assessment shall be made for the entire period during which such unauthorised use of electricity has taken place and if, however, the period during which such unauthorised use of electricity has taken place cannot be ascertained, such period shall be limited to a period of twelve months immediately preceding the date of inspection.”

6. The aforesaid provision indicates that if the Assessing Officer finds that unauthorized use of electricity had taken place, in that case, assessment shall be made for the entire period during which the unauthorized use of electricity had taken place and if the period of such unauthorized use of electricity could not be ascertained, in such case the period would be limited to a period of twelve months immediately preceding from the date of inspection.

7. The procedure for making the assessment has been given under Clause 6.8 of the Code. Clause 6.8 (c)(iii) of the Code provides as under:

“(iii) If the assessing officer reaches to the conclusion that unauthorized use of electricity has taken place, the assessment shall be made for the entire period during which such unauthorized use of electricity has taken place and if, however, the period during which such unauthorized use of electricity has taken place cannot be ascertained, such period shall be limited to a period of twelve months immediately preceding the date of inspection for all categories of services, and he shall provisionally assess the consumption as per the procedure specified in Annexure 6.3.

Note.—The assessing officer can draw ‘conclusions’ that unauthorized use of electricity has taken place, based on findings that reveal existence of conditions of “unauthorized use of electricity” given in “Explanation” of clause 6.8, and evidence found suggests that unauthorized use of electricity was not made with ‘dishonest’ intentions, but due to ignorance of procedure or rules or compulsions that only warrant a suitable assessment commensurate with the Act.”

8. The formula given under Annexure-6.3 of the Code, is extracted hereunder:

“ [Annexure 6. 3 (Ref. Clause 6.8(c)(iii) & 8.1(b)(iv)

(A) Assessment in case of unauthorized use of electricity

1. Units Assessed = L * F * D * H.

Where L = is the connected load in kW and in KVA where KVAh r