At the instance of Electricity Act, 1910, S. 50 According to the plain English language, the ordinary meaning of the phrase “at the instance of” in the collocation of words “No prosecution shall be instituted. . . except at the instance of” must, in the context in which it appears, mean ‘at the behest of, or, at the solicitation of’. The word ‘instance’ as a verb means “to urge, instance of” as given in Random House Dictionary of the English Language at page 690 is : ‘at the urging of suggestion of’. ‘Instance’ does not imply the same degree of obligation to obey as does ‘command’. That is also the legal sense in which the phrase “at the instance of” in S. 50 of the Act has been understood. It is clear upon the terms of S. 50 that it nowhere requires that the authorization should be by a notification published in the official Gazette. A person authorized by the Board and acting for and on behalf of the Board can launch prosecution for theft. (State of Karnataka v. Adimurthy, (1983) 3 SCC 268 (270,271)