Speedy courts to deal with power theft proposed

The proposers of 100 days plan for restructuring of power sector have suggested the government to set up speedy courts to deal with the phenomenon of power theft and non-payment of electricity bills. They also suggested giving magisterial powers to chief executives of power distribution companies to improve situation in this sector.
According to them, the laws relating to power sector carry the provision of setting up speedy courts. In case, they added, no such arrangement is possible for time being, the courts should be directed to fix weekly days for hearing of electricity-related cases. They said the courts should hear such cases twice a week in order to minimize power theft and non-payment of bills to improve recovery and bring down losses.
They said the government should also ensure registration of first information report (FIR) soon after a complaint is lodged by a representative of any distribution company.
They said a list of over 100 doable has been provided to the policy managers which included guarantee of tenure post to the chief executives of power distribution companies with full authority of taking action against those supporting power theft and non-payment of bills within the department.
Similarly, they said, the proposal paper has suggested legislative support to the chief executives in order to enable them to meet targets.
According to these circles, they have also proposed the government to install meters on transformers and the supply to locality should be matched with readings of these meters. Gradually, electronic meters should be installed to mitigate power theft.
When asked about the pace of implementation of these proposals, the experts expressed their dissatisfaction over the ongoing developments, saying policymakers are not serious in addressing both recovery and power theft issues. They said these proposals were for the first 100 days, which were followed by funneling of proposals to narrow down the issue of power theft and non-payment of electricity bills. However, the power division is not looking serious in adopting these proposals and instead it has decided to deal with the problems with the help of deputy commissioners like the previous governments that would take the sector back to square one.