PANJIM: The Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) has asked the Electricity Department to desist from discontinuing power supply to a flat stating that electricity supply is a legal right and denial of power supply is a violation of human rights and so also, electricity supply forms a part of Right to Life under Constitution.
Hearing a complaint filed by Asha Naik of Talaulim-Ponda, the Commission upheld the statement of the Electricity Department that power connection of the structure cannot be disconnected at the behest of someone.
The Wadi-Talaulim village panchayat had resolved to cancel the house number and NOC given to the complainant following an objection by the wife of the complaint’s brother, who on November 25, 2019, applied to the village panchayat for bifurcating the house number situated at Wadi-Talaulim, Ponda and allotting a house number in the name of his sister.
After going through the replies filed by the panchayat secretary and the electricity department division X, sub-division I junior engineer, the two-member Commission comprising acting Chairperson Desmond D’Costa and Pramod Kamat found merit in the reply of the junior engineer that the electricity connection given to the house of the complainant on the first floor of the structure should not be disconnected.
The Commission also noted that the complainant’s brother Yejuvendra Naik in his affidavit dated August 24, 2020, stated that his sister had equal right in the said plot and full right of the first floor constructed by her. Accordingly, the Commission recommended that both the respondents should desist from disconnecting the electricity connection given to the first floor occupied by the complainant, as long as she continues payment of the electricity bills.
