High Court interpreted me as apartment owner
I am the son of the registered allottees of a flat in a group housing society. My parents are elderly and ailing. I hold a Power of Attorney from them and manage all property affairs including the electricity connection and related legal disputes.
The society's Apartment Owners Association, which stands dissolved and sub-judice, took over electricity distribution from the Builder and blocked my prepaid meter recharge, conditioning restoration upon payment of unrelated non-electricity charges in violation of the Electricity Act, 2003.
I filed a complaint before the CGRF. The Forum accepted my standing without objection, heard all parties, and passed its final order in my name dismissing the complaint on maintainability grounds. Being aggrieved, I appealed before the Electricity Ombudsman. The Ombudsman directed addition of my parents as Co-Appellants; I complied. The Ombudsman now insists I remove myself entirely as a party and function only as a POA holder, with my parents as sole Appellants.
This is untenable. The Allahabad High Court in the Designarch judgment (Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 33826 of 2012, Neutral Citation No. 2013:AHC:156175-DB, Division Bench, 14.11.2013) interpreted Section 3(d) of the U.P. Apartment Act, 2010 to hold that "apartment owner" extends to children of the allottee. I independently qualify as an apartment owner under this binding precedent. The Ombudsman, a creature of subordinate delegated legislation, cannot override a Division Bench ruling.
The impugned order was passed in my name. An appeal is a continuation of the same lis. The right to appeal vests in the aggrieved person. Removing me from the appeal against an order passed against me is a legal impossibility. I also independently qualify as a "consumer" under Section 2(15) of the Electricity Act, which does not require registered ownership.
https://www.uperc.org/App_File/CGRF/FinalOrderdated[deleted]-pdf[deleted]PM.pdf
Addition of Co-Appellants supplements parties; it cannot substitute the Primary Appellant. The Ombudsman acts suo motu on an undisputed point, Ultra Vires the scope of the Regulations. Reducing me to a POA holder extinguishes all independent rights including further remedies, and given my parents' condition, renders the litigation unenforceable.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M7CObmSXsLoUJHJjzWmJ-w1HvfpC_0PO/view?usp=drive_link
I seek opinion on whether the Ombudsman can remove a Complainant-turned-Appellant when the impugned order was passed in his name; whether the Designarch Division Bench judgment binds the Ombudsman on the scope of "apartment owner"; whether consumer status under Section 2(15) gives self-sufficient party rights; whether this direction Ultra Vires the Regulations; and what remedies exist including a writ under Article 226.
Asked 12 hours ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu
Even after paid questions, the website doesn't give sufficient characters so that one can say something in details. I have drafted and published details Here — https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/d298b065-83b7-4a8d-b9a3-e18710e52b0b
Based on above I have thse additional questions:
Question #1: We have builders maintenance agency ICICI Account if we pay the disputed electricity amount which may be nullified if we contest otherwise, but in that scenario what if builders maintenance agency still doesn't gives NOC, and ombudsman may still remain mechanical w/o application of mind that there is still subject matter clash although there is none when read with Section 145 of the Electricity Act, 2003, what should we do? Should we make this payment or not?
Question #2: We have builders maintenance agency ICICI Account if we pay the disputed electricity amount which may be nullified if we contest otherwise, but in that scenario what if builders maintenance agency still doesn't gives NOC, and ombudsman may still remain mechanical w/o application of mind that there is still subject matter clash although there is none when read with Section 145 of the Electricity Act, 2003, what should we do? Should we make this payment or not?
Question #2: What should we do with the Memo of the party? Can all three appellants, including my both parents, remain Primary appellant/Petitioner? How should the Memo of Parties be restructured?
Question #3: Any Pressure tactic to pressurize ombudsman on this "Also, Section 145 of the Electricity Act, 2003 — Civil Court Not to Have Jurisdiction: Section 145 is a jurisdictional bar provision." and non application of mind on subject matter Issue?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M7CObmSXsLoUJHJjzWmJ-w1HvfpC_0PO/view?usp=drive_link
Asked 7 hours ago
If you examine the record, all my electricity dues are either paid or cheques have been submitted with the Ombudsman in favour of the Builder or Noida Power Company Limited. However, the real issue is that a criminal enterprise has hijacked the Builder's single-point connection, installed their own software, and imported the electricity ledger pertaining to the period prior to July 2024, a period during which they were not even maintaining the society.
For my flat particularly, out of a total Delhi Civic suite value of ₹1,54,000, approximately ₹20,000 is electricity-related, representing dues between the Builder agency as Plaintiff and my parents as Defendants, of which this non-elected AOA is not even a party and dispute was filed in Nov 2023 when they even didnt exist on paper.
My question is this: these ledgers were illegally imported from the Builder's software into the non-elected AOA's software, and the demand is raised by an entity that is not even a beneficiary of the said amount. The Builder himself is circulating messages to all flat owners that any amount paid to this criminal enterprise under any head will not absolve them from their liability to the Builder prior to July 2024. In my case, the dispute is already before a separate Civil Court and is defensible on merits. If we pay the disputed electricity amount under protest, will that be accepted by the Ombudsman as settled dues and removed from the illegal software deployed by said AOA on our meter? Is it still advisable to make payments to the Builder?
Did you grasp the complete picture of the trespass committed over the meter by an illegal entity that does not even hold a single-point connection in its own name?
Secondly, given that the CGRF order was passed against me alone and declared me as the Complainant when my parents are added as petitioners in the Ombudsman appeal, who will be the Primary Petitioner? Is there even a need to declare a Primary Petitioner or Co-Petitioner, ?
Asked 5 hours ago