1 CGHC010394542022 2026:CGHC:31590 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 5315 of 2022 1 - Pushpanchala Chaudhary W/o Munnalal Chaudhary Aged About 58 Years R/o Village Navki Rajpur District Balrampur Ramanujganj (C.G.) ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Ltd. Through The Executive Engineer, Balrampur, Division, District Balrampur- Ramanujganj (C.G.) 2 - Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Ltd. Through The Sub Engineer, Rajpur Sub Division, District Balrampur-Ramanujganj (C.G.) 3 - District Legal Service Authority Through The Secretary, Rajpur, District Balrampur-Ramanujganj (C.G.) ... Respondents (Cause-title taken from the Case Information System) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Petitioners :- Mr. Shakti Raj Sinha, Advocate For Respondents:- Mr. Soumitra Kesharwani, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Mayank Chandrakar, Advocate ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SB- Hon'ble Shri Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad Order On Board 23.07.2026 VISHAKHA BEOHAR Digitally signed by VISHAKHA BEOHAR 2 1. By way of this petition, the petitioner has prayed for following reliefs:- “10.1 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the respondent authorities to set off the amount of Rs. 42353/- from the electricity bills of the petitioner. 10.2 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the respondent authorities, to issue fresh monthly bills to the petitioner without surcharge. 10.3 That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to grant any other relief that this Hon'ble court may think fit be also granted in the interest of justice. 10.4 That, the cost of the petition be also awarded..” 2. Facts of the case are that the petitioner has filed the present writ petition not against any specific order but against the alleged illegal, arbitrary and mala fide inaction of the respondent authorities in failing to comply with the compromise award dated 10.07.2021 passed in Pre-Litigation Case No. 99/2021 before the Lok Adalat. It is the case of the petitioner that pursuant to the said compromise, it was agreed that if the petitioner deposited the outstanding electricity dues, excluding the surcharge, in six instalments, the surcharge amount of ₹42,353/- would be waived/set-off. The petitioner asserts that he duly complied with the terms of the compromise by depositing the agreed amount of 3 ₹1,75,000/- in six instalments between 10.07.2021 and 23.09.2022. However, despite full compliance on his part, the respondent authorities have neither given effect to the compromise nor waived the surcharge amount and have continued to include the said surcharge in the subsequent electricity bills. Aggrieved by such inaction, the petitioner has approached this Court seeking a direction to the respondents to implement the compromise dated 10.07.2021, set-off the surcharge amount of ₹42,353/- and issue revised electricity bills excluding the said surcharge. 3. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that, despite the compromise arrived at before the Lok Adalat on 10.07.2021, the surcharge amount of ₹42,353/- has not been waived/set-off by the Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited. It is submitted that the petitioner has already deposited the amount as agreed under the compromise and has complied with his part of the obligation. However, the amount which was required to be waived in terms of the policy of the Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited has not yet been adjusted, and therefore, the petitioner is entitled for a direction to the respondents to waive the remaining surcharge amount and issue revised electricity bills accordingly. 4. Per contra, learned counsel appearing for the respondents submits that an amount of ₹5,839.85/- has already been waived 4 under the Samadhan Yojana, being 10% of the base arrears, and thereafter, an amount of ₹13,408.42/- has also been waived under the said scheme towards 100% surcharge waiver. Thus, the entire surcharge amount payable by the petitioner has already been waived. It is submitted that, so far as any remaining amount is concerned, the petitioner is not entitled for any further waiver and the claim made by the petitioner is devoid of merit. He further submits that, on the basis of the aforesaid communication/letter, the waiver has already been granted and the amounts referred to in the preceding paragraphs have been waived on 23.06.2026. It is submitted that, in view of such waiver having already been extended in favour of the petitioner, no further amount remains liable to be waived, and therefore, the petitioner is not entitled for any further relief. 5. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, at this stage, submits that the amount of ₹42,353/- has not been waived by the respondent authorities and the said amount is still outstanding against the petitioner towards surcharge. It is submitted that the waiver granted by the respondents does not include the aforesaid surcharge amount, which continues to be reflected in the electricity bills issued to the petitioner. Therefore, the petitioner is entitled for appropriate directions for waiver/set-off of the said remaining surcharge amount in terms of the applicable scheme/policy of the Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited. 5 6. Having heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and upon perusal of the documents available on record, it is evident that vide communication dated 30.06.2022, the Assistant Engineer, CSPDCL, Balrampur, had addressed a letter to the Executive Engineer, CSPDCL, Balrampur, regarding the claim for waiver of the surcharge amount and had sought necessary instructions in that regard. 7. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that, in view of the aforesaid communication, the issue regarding waiver of the surcharge amount was already brought to the notice of the competent authority, and therefore, the petitioner may be permitted to approach the concerned authority for consideration of his grievance. 8. Considering the nature of the dispute involved between the parties, this Court is of the opinion that the ends of justice would be served by granting liberty to the petitioner to submit an appropriate representation/application before the competent authority of the Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited seeking waiver/set-off of the remaining surcharge amount of ₹42,353/-. 9. Accordingly, the present writ petition is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to submit an appropriate representation/application before the competent authority within a period of 20 days from the date of copy of this order. On receipt of such 6 representation/application, the competent authority shall consider and decide the same in accordance with law, by passing a reasoned and speaking order, preferably within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of such representation. 10. It is made clear that this Court has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the claim of the petitioner, and the competent authority shall be at liberty to consider the matter independently in accordance with the applicable rules, policy and scheme. 11. With the aforesaid observations and directions, the writ petition stands disposed of. sd/- (Amitendra Kishore Prasad) Judge Vishakha