HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD APPLICATION U/S 528 BNSS No. - 9444 of 2026 Court No. - 81 HON'BLE VIVEK KUMAR SINGH, J. 1. Learned counsel for opposite party no.3 has produced a copy of letter dated 04.04.2018 issued by the Executive Engineer, Vidyut Vitaran Khand Kasya (Kushinagar), which is taken on record. 2. Heard Sri Rahul Kumar Pandey, learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Shubhanh Shukla, Advocate holding brief of Sri Rishu Mishra, learned counsel for the opposite party no.3/ Electricity Department as well as learned A.G.A for the State. 3. Present application has been filed seeking to quash the entire proceedings of the S.T. No.464 of 2020 (State vs. Lakshmi Devi and Others) arising out of Case Crime No.67 of 2018, under Section 135 of Electricity Act, Police Station Patherwa, District Kushinagar, pending before the court of the learned District and Session Judge Court No.4, Kushinagar at Padrauna and charge-sheet dated 01.05.2018 as well as cognizance and summoning order dated 31.10.2020 passed in the aforesaid case. 4. The main ground to challenge the chargesheet and the order passed by the trial court is that the criminal proceedings for alleged theft of electricity under Section 135 of the Electricity Act, 2003 cannot continue, in as much as, criminal offence has been compounded by the electricity department. A letter of the Executive Engineer dated 04.04.2018 has been placed to demonstrate that the department decided to compound the criminal offence of theft of Electricity invoking power under Section Versus Counsel for Applicant(s) : Rahul Kumar Pandey Counsel for Opposite Party(s) : G.A., Rishu Mishra Lakshmi Devi .....Applicant(s) State of U.P. and Another .....Opposite Party(s) 152(1) of the Electricity Act 2003. The said letter states that the compounding fee had been deposited and receipts dated 26.03.2018 had also been issued to the applicant. All these facts are admitted to the learned counsel for the Electricity Department. 5. Considering the above, this Court finds that in view of the provisions as contained in Section 152(1) of the Electricity Act 2003, the criminal offence of theft of electricity being the first offence had been compounded by the department, and hence the proceedings for theft of electricity under Section 135 of the Electricity Act 2003 cannot continue. 6. In any case, the proceedings in the present case appear to have been initiated by the Court in ignorance of the letter dated 04.04.2018 issued by the Executive Engineer of the Electricity Department. 7. In view of the above, entire proceedings of the S.T. No.464 of 2020 (State vs. Lakshmi Devi and Others) arising out of Case Crime No.67 of 2018, under Section 135 of the Electricity Act, 2003, Police Station Patherwa, District Kushinagar, pending before the court of the learned District and Session Judge Court No.4, Kushinagar at Padrauna and charge-sheet dated 01.05.2018 as well as cognizance and summoning order dated 31.10.2020 passed in the aforesaid case, is hereby quashed. 8. The application under Section 528 BNSS is allowed. March 18, 2026 Radhika NA528 No. 9444 of 2026 2 (Vivek Kumar Singh,J.) Digitally signed by :- RADHIKA VISHWAKARMA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad