Politicians are rarely truthful or candid about the performance of
their governments but you have shown tremendous courage and
forthrightness in your pronouncements. News papers quote the
CM as saying that despite your being a minister your family had to
bribe the engineers of the Electricity Board to get the electricity
bill rectified.By the mere fact of speaking up about the ubiquitous
corruption in the electricity board you have taken the first bold step
towards fighting it.Now you may like to ponder and let the people of
Bihar know whether the following decisions of your government in the
last few years have helped the public cause or abetted the activities
of the dishonest consumers and their corrupt patrons.
1) The government disbanded the decades old electricity vigilance
cell, specially created to curb theft of electricity committed by big
consumers in collusion with the engineers of the Bihar State
Electricity Board. The Board may have lost approximately Rs 7000
crores by way of theft and transmission during the last five years.
2) The engineers of the Board have been exempted from action under the
Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 even if they are found colluding
with consumers in the theft of energy?
3) Under clause 11.4 of the Bihar Electricity Supply Code 2007
consumers caught stealing electricity through a tampered meter can
make a voluntary declaration and escape criminal case and punitive
fine. Under this provision the Board dropped the criminal case
lodged by vigilance electricity cell against an influential consumer
and the engineers who had abetted his crime and waved the punitive
fine of 20 crores. Other influential consumers were invited and
allowed to get their tampered meters regularized. During the same
period hundreds of ordinary consumers with tampered meters were
raided, prosecuted and sent to jail for paltry amounts. The
provision, places enormous discretion -and thus huge opportunities for
corruption- in the hands of the engineers of the Board.
4) The Board had charged Satyendra Ray for h theft of electricity
worth Rs 60, 000. The Hon’ble Patna High Court, in 2009, quashed the
FIR on the plea of the accused that police did not have the power to
institute a case of theft of electricity. The Bihar State Electricity
Board moved the Hon’ble Supreme Court (Cr Appeal no 2133 of 2010
arising out of SLP (cr.) No 6823 of 2009 Assistant Electrical engineer
Vs Satyendra Kumar Rai) and contended that police had all the powers
to institute and investigate cases of electricity theft etc. The
Hon’ble Supreme Court set aside the order of the Hon’ble Patna High
Court.Satyendra Rai was charge sheeted and sent to jail.
5) Immediately thereafter, in a case of electricity theft involving
Rs. 20 crores, the BSEB told the Hon’ble Patna High Court (CWJC
921/09, CWJC 23348 /09,) that the vigilance electricity cell (police)
has no powers to institute cases of electricity theft. The Hon’ble
High Court quashed the FIR and the consumer and the former chairman of
the BSEB accused of causing pecuniary advantage to him walked away.
The BSEB suppressed the Supreme Court judgment from the High Court
and asserted before the High Court that the police did not have the
authority to institute a case of electricity theft. The FIR was
quashed by the Hon’ble High Court .SLP in the in a matter which
involved Rs . 20 crores was not moved by the government.
6) Four other cases involving theft of electricity and corruption
worth hundreds of crores filed earlier by electricity vigilance cell
were similarly quashed by the Patna High Court but these also were not
taken to the Hon’ble Supreme Court.