In a significant relief to Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal, Zia ur Rehman Barq, the Allahabad High Court has directed Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL) to restore electricity supply to his residence, which was disconnected in December 2024.

The Court also stayed the operation of a final assessment order that had imposed charges of ₹1.91 crore on Barq for alleged unauthorised electricity use.

The bench of Justices Saumitra Dayal Singh and Sandeep Jain held that the assessment order appeared to exceed the jurisdiction prescribed under the Electricity Act, particularly Section 126(5), which limits assessment for undeterminable periods of unauthorised use to a maximum of 12 months. In Barq’s case, the authority had calculated charges for over 4,000 days — nearly 12 years.

Barq challenged the final assessment order on multiple grounds, including:

• Jurisdictional overreach: The order assessed usage far beyond the legally permitted 12-month period.

• Inclusion of additional charges: It sought electricity duty and compounding charges, which his counsel argued were beyond the authority’s power to impose.

• Arbitrary financial burden: The petitioner contended he could not be forced to deposit 50% of a patently illegal ₹1.91 crore demand to maintain an appeal.

Barq's legal team, comprising Advocates Bidhan Chandra Rai and Stuti Rai, submitted that he was, however, willing to deposit ₹6 lakhs as per statutory requirements to sustain his appeal.

The Court accepted this submission and directed that Upon depositing ₹6 lakhs within two weeks, the final assessment order shall remain stayed. PVVNL must restore the electricity connection at Barq’s residence, subject to his timely payment of future bills.

The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 2, giving the corporation three weeks to obtain instructions.

The disconnection followed an inspection in which officials allegedly found that the electricity usage at Barq’s residence exceeded 16 kilowatts daily, despite a sanctioned load of just 4 kilowatts. As per the statement by Executive Engineer (XEN) Naveen Gautam of UPPCL, two meters at Barq’s residence had shown zero consumption for six months, and usage had not exceeded 100 units in any of the other months in 2024.

Advocate Pranjal Mehrotra represented the respondents.