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Bhubaneswar, Aug. 3: Unscheduled power cuts in the Bhubaneswar court have prompted a lawyer to move court against the officials of the power supply company.
Two cases have been registered against the officials of Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu) in the Bhubaneswar court for unscheduled power cuts there.
The first case was registered in the court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM), Akhila Kumar Paschimakabat, on Thursday. The second case was registered with the chairperson of the permanent Lok Adalat, Khagen Mohanty, on Friday.
The cases have been filed against the chief executive officer of Cesu, executive engineer of electrical division, Rasulgarh, sub-divisional officer, electrical temple sub-division and junior manager, Nageswartangi.
Complainant Siddharth Das said that since June 18, Cesu officials had been snapping power supply in the court area without any prior notice and for a long period. “This affects court work and results in a huge loss to the state government. Whenever we call the local electrical office over the phone, their men ignore our grievances. They have behaved rudely with us as well,” said Das.
He said the reluctance of Cesu authorities to deal with the issue had forced him to file the cases.
Das alleged that the power cuts had been going on for the past month and a half even though there was no power crisis and were implemented arbitrarily and intentionally for a prolonged period to harass the public.
“There are more than 20 courts on our premises including the SDJM, district court, family court and CBI and vigilance courts. When there is a power cut, work stops as there is no power back-up system except for the district court. Computer related work stops too. Moreover, the power cuts continue for about five hours either at a stretch or in phases during working hours,” alleged the senior lawyer.
General manager of Cesu N.K. Mishra said he had not received any summons from the court in this regard and was not aware about any such cases against Cesu. “I do not think there was any power cut on a daily basis or for a prolonged period. We will ask the sub-divisional officers whether they had cut power supply for a longer period or not,” said Mishra.
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