HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has expressed serious concern over the grant of electricity connections to thousands of buildings without Occupancy Certificates (OCs), observing that its earlier conditional orders had been misused.
Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka directed the chairman and managing director of TG Transco to submit a comprehensive report by July 15 on the implementation of the court’s earlier directions. The report should specify the number of electricity connections granted based on undertakings filed before the court, the number of beneficiaries who have since submitted OCs, those who are yet to comply, and the action taken against defaulters.
The court also directed the Registry to forward a copy of its order to the principal secretary of the Energy department and the chairmen and managing directors of TGSPDCL and TGNPDCL. The matter has been posted for further hearing on July 15.
The observations came while hearing a batch of writ petitions filed by Lakshman Murthy and others from Siddipet, challenging the insistence of electricity authorities on the production of an OC before granting power connections.
During the hearing, Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka noted that in 2017, the High Court had passed conditional orders in thousands of similar cases, directing electricity authorities to provide power connections after accepting undertakings from petitioners that they would subsequently obtain and submit OCs issued by municipal authorities.
HC: Officials failed to reveal non-compliance
The judge observed that nearly a decade had passed, but there was nothing on record to show that the promised OCs had been submitted. The court further noted that the authorities had also failed to bring the continued non-compliance to its notice.
Observing that its liberal approach had been misused in thousands of cases, Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka remarked that the conduct of both the petitioners and the officials appeared to have misled the court.
The judge also referred to the law laid down by the Supreme Court, which mandates that utility services such as electricity, water supply and sewerage connections should be provided only after the issuance of Completion or Occupancy Certificates.
The apex court has further held that no commercial permissions should be granted to unauthorised constructions and that departmental action should be initiated against officials who violate these norms.
Directing the authorities to place complete details on record regarding compliance with OC requirements, the High Court adjourned the matter to July 15.
