9911796707
TMI Blog2010 (11) TMI 1124X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Respondent No. 1 in Village Dariyapur under Naubatpur Police Station and found a 5 H.P. Motor running directly with electrical energy extracted from the main supply line illegally by attaching a hook. Thereafter, the Assistant Electrical Engineer Naubatpur filed a complaint before the police on the same day with regard to the theft of electricity being committed by the Respondent No. 1 and on the basis of the said complaint, a first information report was registered bearing Naubatpur P.S. Case No. 18 of 2007 for the offences punishable under Sections 39/44 of the Electricity Act, 1910. 3. It is an admitted position that at that time when the complaint was filed, the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ) had a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 7. Considering the position in law, it is obvious that the High Court has completely misconstrued the relevant provision. Considering the definition of theft of electricity in Section 135 of the Act, there could be no difficulty that in the first information report, the theft as contemplated in Section 135 of the Act was reported. The only question is as to whether the police could have investigated on that basis and could have filed a charge-sheet against the Respondent No. 1-accused, particularly in view of the language of Section 151 of the Act. 8. Mr. Mohit Kumar Shah, Learned Counsel appearing for the Appellant invites our attention to present Section 151 of the Act and more particularly to the proviso which has been added by w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Section 151 stands a barrier to investigation of these cognizable offences by the police. It is proposed to amend Section 151 so as to clarify the position that the police would be able to investigate the cognizable offences under the Act. To expedite the trial before the special court, it is also proposed to provide that a special courts shall be competent to take cognizance of an offence without the accused being committed to it for trial. (emphasis supplied) 9. Therefore, considering the language of para 4 of the Statement of Objects and Reasons, it is clear that the amendment brought in is clarificatory in nature and as such it would take into its ambit even the pending matters and in that sense it would be a retrospective ame ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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