SURKHET, April 26: Surkhet Appellate Court on Wednesday ordered Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Surkhet, to follow a routine while enforcing load shedding. Annoyed over erratic power cuts, some locals had filed a writ against NEA at the appellate court a few days ago.
A single bench of judge Ratna Bahadur Bagchand issued the order which read: “Cutting power without prior notice makes peoples´ life very difficult.
The court is compelled to give an order against NEA as it has been established that there has been power cut in the region as frequently as 15 times a day.
The order further warns the NEA not to deprive public of power facility until and unless it has a valid reason to do so. “It is sheer negligence on the part of NEA. The people pay for the power they use. It is not fair to force them to stay in dark until and unless NEA has some compulsion,” said Premdhwoj Shahi, an advocate. He added that the problem was due to the added number of customers while NEA has not been able to expand its service.
Power Act, 2049, states that except when hit by a natural calamity or there is a need to repair the power lines, or in the case of some other valid reasons, the NEA cannot cut power supply without prior notice.
Prior to this order, the court had issued a show cause notice to the authority, on December 22 of last year for imposing irregular power cuts. “The authority did not pay heed to that order,” said another advocate Tikaprasad Pokhrel.
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