'Electricity theft' case: Allahabad HC orders restoration of power supply at Sambhal MP Barq's home; calls Rs 1.91 crore fine 'arbitrary'
NEW DELHI: The Allahabad high court has directed the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) to restore power supply at the house of
Samajwadi Party
's (SP) Lok Sabha member from Sambhal, Zia Ur Rehman Barq.
A division bench of justices Saumitra Dayal Singh and Sandeep Jain, passed the order on a writ petition by Barq in the
electricity theft case
. It also described as "arbitrary," UPPCL's Rs 1.91 crore fine on the SP leader over allegations of electricity theft.
"Submission is that even if the inspection report and adverse facts allegedly found therein are accepted, no jurisdiction arose with the respondent authorities to make assessment for a period of 12 years," the court observed in its June 4 order, according to news agency PTI.
"The maximum period for which assessment may have been made could not exceed one year. By breaching the statutory period of assessment, wholly unnatural and arbitrary demand of Rs 1 crore and 91 lakhs has been raised. The petitioner cannot be made to deposit 50% of such illegal demand to maintain an appeal," it added.
However, the bench asked Barq to deposit a permissible amount of Rs. 6 lakhs to maintain his appeal, giving him two weeks to do so.
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Through his lawyer, he submitted he is willing to deposit the money.
The court then granted UPPCL three weeks to file its reply in the matter and fixed the next hearing for July 2.
In December 2024, the electricity department imposed the penalty on Barq following an inspection at his residence in Sambhal's Deepa Sarai area, where officials allegedly discovered the power theft.
Separately, the politician faces charges of inciting violence in Sambhal during protests related to a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in November last year.
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