New Delhi, Oct 25 (IANS) The Delhi High Court has come to the rescue of a man who was slapped with bills amounting to over Rs.200,000 by BSES after he said he detected irregularities in the working of the power utility through an RTI application. The court has suspended payment of the bills.
Purshottam Kalra, who runs an anti-corruption NGO - Bhrashtachar Virodhi Sangathan - was slapped with bills of Rs.129,107 and Rs.91,471 by BSES, which said his meters were not showing the date properly.

Justice Geeta Mittal in an interim order passed last week stayed the bills and issued notice to BSES for Feb 23, 2010.

Kalra said he found irregularities in the BSES’ working through an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

“Since I filed the RTI against BSES asking about the installation of transformers in various colonies very near to homes and who allowed them to do this, BSES raided my house. They found no defect in the meters and stated in their initial report that the seal is intact and no tampering was done, besides the fact that the date showing on the meters is not correct, which is not my fault as the seal was intact,” Kalra said.

The power supplier slapped Kalra with the inflated bills saying he was overdrawing power against what was sanctioned. He then approached the court seeking a stay on payment of the bills.

Though the court stayed the bill payment, it has asked Kalra to pay for the regular consumption till disposal of the case.

“I have been using the electricity since the Delhi Vidyut Board’s time. It is the first instance that due to some malafide on the part of BSES staff such inflated bills were slapped on me. It is highly unfair and exhibits their deficiency in providing service to consumers,” Kalra added.