Electricity is a basic amenity under Article 21 of the Constitution. Under Section 43 of the Electricity Act 2003, a distribution licensee must provide a connection to any occupier of a premises, and cannot deny it based on the absence of a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the landlord.

JUDGMENT

1. Rule returnable forthwith. Mr. Premal Joshi, learned counsel waives service of notice of rule on behalf of respondent No. 1 and Mr. Vaibhav Sharma, learned Assistant Government Pleader waives service of notice of rule on behalf of respondent No. 2.

2. With consent of the learned counsel appearing for the respective parties, the matter is taken up for final disposal today.

3. Present petition is preferred by the petitioner under Articles 21 and 226 of the Constitution of India, under the provisions of Electricity Act, 2003 read with the Electricity (Rights of Consumer) Rules, 2020 and the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (Electricity Supply Code and Related Matters) Regulations 2015 with below mentioned relief/s:-

i. That this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to admit and allow this Special Civil Application.

ii. That this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to quash and set aside the orders dated 05.03.2024 and 03.05.2024 passed by the Ld. Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum of the Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd. And the Ld. Electricity Ombudsman, respectively.

iii. That this Hon’ble court may be pleased to issue appropriate writ, order or direction to the Respondents to provide the Applicant with an electricity connection.

iv. That this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue appropriate penalty upon the Respondent No.1 as stipulated under Section 43(3) of the Electricity Act, 2003.

v. That this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to pass any such other order or further relief as deemed just and proper in the interest of justice.

4. Brief facts of the present petition are in nutshell as under:-

4.1 It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner is aged about 80 years, who is residing with his wife since last 40 years and he served in the Indian Railways and on reaching the age of superannuation, he is residing with his family. It is also the case of the petitioner that he belongs to the scheduled caste and he disliked by some residents of his village and he discriminated against by the local administrative body. Until the interference of this Court by virtue of order dated 16.02.2023 passed in Special Civil Application No. 17432 of 2019, he did not have water connection at his residence and this Court directed the respondents to consider the applications made by him for water and electricity connection in accordance with law and to pass reasoned order.

4.2 It is further the case of the petitioner that he had made an application to respondent No.1 for electricity connection, which came to be rejected. Being aggrieved, the petitioner had approached the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum raising his grievance of not giving electricity connection by way of preferring an application, which was rejected.

4.3 It is also the case of the petitioner that the petitioner approached the Appellate Authority i.e. Electricity Ombudsman by filing an appeal, which was also rejected while holding that the decision made by the learned Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum was sound in law and Regulation 4.16 of the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (Electricity Supply Code and Related Matters) Regulations, 2015 required the petitioner to submit “No Objection Certificate” for obtaining an electricity connection. Being aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner has preferred this petition.

5. Heard Mr.Yuvraj Dani, learned counsel for the petitione