BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Friday issued notice to the state government, Greater Bengaluru Authority, Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission, electricity supply companies and others on a public interest litigation filed against the Government Order dated June 22 exempting buildings from the Supreme Court order mandating obtaining occupancy certificate (OC) to get electricity supply.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice K S Hemalekha passed the order after hearing a petition filed by R Rajagopalan, a former entrepreneur and environmentalist residing in JP Nagar in the city, challenging the impugned Government Order.
The petitioner, a party-in-person who filed the petition on his own, argued before the court that he was concerned about the “brazen and repeated circumvention of directions” issued by the Supreme Court on December 17, 2024, which clearly mandated that services to buildings should be provided only after occupancy or completion certificate is produced. Contrary to this, the state government issued the impugned order, he told the court.
The petitioner argued that the impugned order does not prioritise public safety and action against unauthorised buildings built in blatant violation of the byelaws and deviation from sanction plans, given its repeated arbitrary use to circumvent the law without requiring the only safeguard to ensure structural safety and fire safety norms before a building can be deemed fit to be occupied as per the National Building Code 2016.
Instead, the impugned order gives building owners a blanket pass to utilise services for reasons best known to those who issued these orders.
Unauthorised buildings should not need or be provided power services when not qualified to be occupied and such orders easily enable and allow them to be occupied in violation of existing laws.
Therefore, the impugned order and any subsequent amendments propose a compressed 15-day time-frame for application by consumers, which is in violation of Section 181 of the Electricity Act, 2003, the petitioner alleged.
The petitioner also accused the government of issuing the impugned order heeding to the baseless demands of the Karnataka State Licensed Electrical Contractors lobby, regulated by the Department of Electrical Inspectorate, who have a vested commercial interest, not safety and are deeply embedded in the dubious sanction approval process of electricity supply companies.