E-Paper
FIRs in power theft cases must be registered within 24 hours: UPERC
Uttar Pradesh’s power regulator asks UPPCL to obtain appropriate justification from police officials concerned for not registering FIRs within time
The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) has insisted that FIRs in power theft cases must be registered within 24 hours of detection of pilferage to avoid possible harassment of the accused. The commission has directed the U.P. Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) to obtain appropriate justification from all the police department officials concerned for not registering FIRs within time.
In an order passed by it on August 17, the commission also directed the corporation to give clear directions to such officials that there should not be any delay in filling of FIR, failing which appropriate action would be taken against them.
The commission also directed the corporation to complete the backlog with regard to lodging FIRs within one month and also provide the separate details of one-time offenders and repeat offenders and what action had been taken against the repeat offenders.
“A submission shall be made on the actions that have been taken against the electricity thana police officials who have not filed FIR in time,” the three-member bench headed by chairman Raj Pratap Singh ruled.
Earlier in June, the commission directed UPPCL to take action against 1882 identified engineers who did not lodge FIRs in power theft cases within 24 hours of detection of pilferage with the malafide intention of harassing consumers.
It is learnt that local engineers, after raiding consumers premises to catch power theft, allegedly often indulge in bargaining with them (consumers) showing the fear of lodging FIRs against them for “pilfering” electricity.
The commission’s order came after a farmer of Prayagraj approached it, complaining of harassment by UPPCL engineers in a power theft case filed against him.
The commission granted two months’ time and directed UPPCL to submit a report in the matter of taking action against errant staff and also sent directions to electricity police stations for lodging FIRs immediately, failing which appropriate disciplinary action against errant police personnel may also be taken.
The commission observed that maybe electricity thanas did not register FIRs in time despite the UPPCL engineers submitting applications for lodging cases in time.
During the hearing on August 17, the corporation officials informed the regulator that action was being taken against the 1882 officials but it said that electricity police stations did not have adequate IT infrastructure to comply with the commission’s directives in many cases.
The commission observed that the submission made by the petitioner that it did not have adequate resources for smooth working of electricity police stations could not be accepted as it was the obligation of the petitioner to comply with the regulations.
“Inadequate IT support or lack of infrastructure in terms of availability of computers cannot be made a ground for wanton disobedience of statutory guidelines as FIRs can always be registered manually,” the commission said.
