EB bill payment extended till June 6: Government

Recording the government submission, a division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice Anita Sumanth, before whom a public interest litigation moved in this regard seeking time till July 31 came up, adjourned the plea to June 8.

Advocate C Rajashekaran, who moved the PIL, pointed out that people were suffering without income during the lockdown to fight COVID-19. Hence, they must be given sufficient time until July 31 to pay the electricity charges, the petition said.

He added that the power consumption charges assessed as on March 31 had to be paid by the consumers by May 6.

It may be noted the division bench presided by Justice Vineet Kothari which admitted the plea had granted an interim stay until May 18, and had sought for a detailed counter explaining the policy decision about deferring payment of electricity consumption charges.

The bench had also directed the State not to indulge in coercive process against the consumers including power disconnection till the next date of hearing.