BENGALURU: A circular issued on August 8 by the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company’s vigilance cell has alarmed energy experts and industrialists. The matter was discussed at BESCOM on Thursday.
The circular issued to all assistant executive engineers (AEE), inspectors and sub-inspectors stated that they should not register complaints of misuse of power as non-cognisable. Until now, complaints were registered as either non-cognisable, which refers to ‘unauthorised use of power’ (Section 126 of The Electricity Act, 2003), or cognisable, which refers to theft of electricity (Section 135). Until further orders, all should be registered under Section 135 only under the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, the circular stated.
