JUDGMENT :

J.B. PARDIWALA, J.

1. Leave granted in all the captioned Special Leave Petitions.

2. Since the issues raised in all the captioned petitions are the same and the challenge is also to the self-same judgment and order passed by the High Court of Kerala dated 12.04.2017 deciding a batch of writ applications filed by the respondents herein, those were taken up for hearing analogously and are being disposed by this common judgment and order.

3. This batch of petitions is at the instance of the Kerala State Electricity Board (“Board” or “KSEB”) and is directed against the judgment and order passed by Division Bench of the High Court of Kerala dated 12.04.2017 in Writ Petition (C) No. 22644 of 2015 and allied petitions by which the High Court declared that in case of unauthorised use of electricity in a higher tariff the assessment shall be made at the rate equal to twice the tariff applicable for the relevant category of services attracting such higher tariff for which electricity supplied was unauthorisedly used and not the relevant category of services to which the consumer belongs. The High Court proceeded further to hold that the exception to the above would be in the case of a