Sl. No.39 25.09.2025 Suman Ct. 15 WPA 22491 of 2025 Gour Singha Roy Vs. The State of West Bengal and Ors. Mr. Agniswar Bhuinya ..for the petitioner Dr. Madhusudan Saha Roy ..for WBSEDCL Mr. Biswajit Dutta Mr. Sanjay Mukherjee ..for the State The petitioner challenges the final order of assessment dated October 28, 2024. It is submitted on behalf of the petitioner that the said final order of assessment was passed without prior service of the provisional order of assessment. The learned advocate representing the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) submits, on the other hand, that an attempt was made to serve the provisional order of assessment upon the petitioner, but he refused to accept the same. In support of this submission, a copy of the postal article bearing the endorsement “refused” has been produced before this Court. Notwithstanding the above, it remains an admitted fact that the petitioner was not afforded an opportunity of hearing before the final order of assessment was passed. The assessment appears to have been made on the basis of a connected load of 2.7 KVA. However, the learned advocate for WBSEDCL has failed to produce any document to substantiate this load determination. This Court, however, refrains from entering into the merits of the final order of assessment at this stage. It is the considered view of this Court that the petitioner ought to have been granted an opportunity of hearing before the Assessing Officer. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction upon WBSEDCL to fix a date for hearing and provide a further opportunity of hearing to the petitioner before passing a fresh final order of assessment. The date of hearing shall be communicated to the petitioner at least seven days in advance. Consequently, the final order of assessment dated October 28, 2024 is hereby set aside. However, if the petitioner deposits 50% of the finally assessed amount along with the applicable reconnection charges within a period of two weeks from the date of communication of this order, the electricity connection of the petitioner shall be restored. The petitioner’s final liability shall abide by the outcome of the fresh final order of assessment. 2 It is further made clear that the petitioner shall continue to pay the current electricity bills regularly. Accordingly, WPA 22491 of 2025 is disposed of. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for be supplied to the learned advocates for the parties on usual undertakings. (Kausik Chanda, J.) 3