As consumers receive inflated electricity bills in the summer months, a public interest litigation, or PIL, has been filed in the Bombay High Court against electricity providers Adani Electricity, Tata Power, MSEDL and MERC.

The PIL was filed by Mumbai businessman Ravindra Desai on Thursday and seeks a hearing on Friday. Vishal Saxena, the lawyer for the petitioner said that his client filed the petition after receiving his electricity bill which was 10 times more than his usual bill.

The plea also names the Maharashtra energy minister Nitin Raut as one of the respondents.

The PIL says that excess electricity bill during coronavirus lockdown will add to suffering of citizens and create unrest among Maharashtra residents.

It seeks an interim relief from payment of June electricity bill till the matter is pending before the court, and wants a waiver on any late payment charges at the time of the payment of the June electricity bill.

Further, the PIL wants the court to direct respondents to reduce June electricity bill they have sent to customers and direct them to formulate strategy to avoid sending excess electricity bill in the future.

Earlier this week a number of celebrities and ordinary citizens had taken to Twitter to air their grievances about inflated electricity bill in Maharashtra.

Following the furore, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) on Monday said it had met up with heads of MSEDCL, BEST Undertaking, AEML, and TPC to get more information on the matter and give consumers EMI option as well as direct authorities not to disconnect electricity connection until the matter was resolved.

Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML) on Wednesday introduced EMI facility for consumers.

First Published:Jul 2, 2020 2:48 PM IST