Sir,

There are 40 apartments at Sankalpmahal Apartment Complex on Lalitha Mahal Road. Around five owners have locked their apartments and live outside Mysuru city. As a result, there is a due of Rs. 15,000 towards their electricity bills. But the residents of the remaining 35 apartments have been very punctual in paying their electricity bills.

On Jan. 30 around 11 am, the CESC staff at Siddarthanagar Office disconnected power from the main transformer cutting off power supply to the entire Complex saying that unless we pay the balance Rs. 15,000 due power supply will not be restored.

Now the moot point is, on whose authority and rules the CESC staff can deprive power supply to the 35 apartments and the entire Sankalpmahal common area who have been paying their electricity bills on time?

It is quite understandable if the CESC staff had stopped power supply to the five defaulting apartments. This has caused untold misery and inconvenience to many senior citizens who could not use the Lift due to our generator being under repair.

Only after we spoke to the AEE Yogesh, power supply was restored.

Again after restoring power, the CESC officials have been threatening to disconnect power supply to the entire Apartment Complex if the balance due is not paid within next 3-4 days. While the Apartment Association can only request these defaulting owners to pay up their dues at the earliest we do not have any legal power to force them to pay up.

We request the CESC through SOM to immediately instruct the staff at Siddarthanagar not to disconnect power to bill-paying residents of 35 apartments.

– K.C. Biddappa, President, Sankalpmahal Apartment Owners Association, Lalitha Mahal Road, 1.2.2020

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Note: This is like the Kannada proverb

(if the bull gets fever, why give bitter medicine to the buffalo?). A case of holding the honest to ransom to collect dues from the dishonest or the defaulters. There is neither natural justice nor legal justice. It is a case of audacity of power, official power !

I know of Government Officers (honourable exceptions apart) who deal with companies and factories filing Court cases for reasons best known to them. You guessed it.

It is, therefore, not surprising that our Supreme Court Chief Justice of India had recently made an obiter dictum saying in another context, “While tax evasion was injustice to fellow Indian citizens, arbitrary or excessive taxation resulted in social injustice by a Government.” – KBG