The Ministry of Water and Power had suggested amendments to the Electricity Act in order to curb power theft. After adoption of the said amendments by the National Assembly and signature of the President, the new law is now applicable. Under the new law, power theft has been declared a serious crime, trial of which shall be conducted in Electricity Utility Court.
According to the new law those found involved in power theft will now be arrested without warrants and these arrests will be non-bailable. Under various clauses of the new law, power thieves will have to face serious punishments including up to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fine of up to 10 million rupees. Apart from this, arrears will now be recovered as land revenue arrears. The defaulter's property may also be confiscated and auctioned to recover outstanding bills.
The punishments prescribed in the older laws were very minimal due to which efforts to curb power theft were not proving to be very effective. However, strict punishments recommended under the new law will prove to be very effective in discouraging power theft.
According to the new law, abstraction or tampering with transmission lines will be bookable under clause 462-H with three years of rigorous imprisonment or 10 million rupees fine or both. Abstraction or tampering with distribution lines will be punished under clause 462-I with up to three years of rigorous imprisonment or three million rupees fine or both. Meter tampering has also been addressed under the new law.
Meter tampering by domestic consumers will be punished under clause 462-J with up to two years of rigorous imprisonment or one million rupees fine or both, by industrial/commercial consumers under clause 462-K with up to three years of rigorous imprisonment or six million rupees fine or both, whereas agricultural consumers will be punished for meter tampering under clause 462-L with up to two years of rigorous imprisonment or 2.5 million rupees fine or both. In addition damaging or destroying distribution and transmission lines or meters will be punished under clause 462-M with up to seven years of rigorous imprisonment with not less than three million rupees fine.
After application of the new law, the Ministry of Water and Power is now constituting special teams to crack down on power theft across the country. These special teams along with the police will take action across the board against power thieves in accordance with the law. It is appealed to the general public to identify power theft in their surroundings and inform about the same on Ministry of Water and Power's special hotline 051-9103888. The identity of the informant will be kept strictly confidential.-PR
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