In a successful exercise designed to avoid judicial delays, Delhi’s electricity distribution company (discom) BSES has settled a large number of power theft cases with a value of around Rs 39 crore through special Lok Adalats, it announced on Monday.
The computerised Lok Adalats organised over the weekend as a paperless process by BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and its sister discom in the capital, BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL), settled around 4,000 cases, according to a BSES release.
The special courts on December 9-10 were organised by the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and BSES at three premises – the District Courts at Karkardooma, Saket, and Dwarka.
“The last over 20 Special Lok Adalats, including the ones held over the weekend, have resolved around 34,000 cases with a value of around Rs 270 crore getting settled on the spot,” it said.
BSES said the special courts provided customers in east, central, south and west Delhi a one-time opportunity for an amicable and on-the-spot settlement of cases relating to direct theft and meter tampering.
“Besides being an unprecedented hit, the Lok Adalats are also a great leveller. People from various walks of society made a beeline. From flashy cars to cycles – consumers arrived at the venues in every conceivable means of transport,” a BSES spokesperson said.
Cases that are either pending in any court of law, or are yet to be filed in any such court, were taken up by the Lok Adalats, he added.
Besides, these Lok Adalats were an environment-friendly affair.
“BSES and DSLSA took special care to make the Lok Adalats paperless and managed to save over 30,000 A4 size sheets,” the statement said.
All case documents and files were accessible from computers deployed at the 32 courts set up for the purpose, it added.
BSES also said that customers were given sufficient time to pay up in all the settled cases.
“In fact, BSES has adopted a very humane approach in this regard. The exercise was a win-win for everybody. For the customers, it meant an opportunity to amicably settle their cases. For an over-worked judiciary, it meant some burden off their courts. For BSES, it meant more people coming into the billing net,” it said.
IANS
