RWA cuts off power to elderly lady’s flat for 9 months over maintenance dues

Gurgaon: Kamal Virk, 61, lives in a posh condominium. Her three-bedroom apartment at Regency Park II in DLF Phase 4 has a false ceiling, ACs, double-door refrigerator and LED TV. But she has barely used any of these in the last nine months.
Virk, who lives alone, cooks in candlelight, visits a cyber café everyday to charge her cell phone and sleeps in her balcony, as there is no power in her apartment for the last 9 months.“I’m a single woman, so I can’t do without a cell phone, and go to a cyber café or a neighbour’s house to get it charged. I only buy milk when I need it, as it gets spoiled. I sleep in the balcony as it’s difficult to sleep inside without fans in this heat,” Virk told TOI.
The condominium’s RWA disconnected power supply to Virk’s apartment in November 2015, after she failed to pay her maintenance bills. She reportedly approached the discom, police and district registrar, but didn’t get back power. “I only got back power for two days in between in December 2015, after I approached deputy commissioner T L Satyaprakash. However, the supply was soon disconnected by the RWA,” she said.
DHBVN (Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam) woke up to the issue after one of Virk’s friends in Mumbai tweeted about her condition to the Union minister of women and child welfare, Maneka Gandhi, and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
“It’s shocking that a senior citizen and a single woman is forced to live in the dark, just because she couldn’t pay maintenance charges for a few months. She doesn’t have any income. Disconnection of power supply is a deprivation of the fundamental right to livelihood, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution,” said Pammy Somal, a Mumbai-based media consultant. She continued, “There are various court judgements on this. I therefore tweeted to the Union ministry and NHRC. I’m glad the minister was prompt, and the ministry contacted Gurgaon administration immediately.”
The discom has served a notice to the RWA to resume supply to Virk’s flat on July 28. “Power is a basic necessity and cannot be disconnected for non-payment of dues. You are advised to restore power immediately under intimation to this office, else we’ll have no other option than to initiate action against the RWA for violation of HERC (Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission) instructions,” states the notice (a copy is with TOI).
“She has not paid her maintenance bills since 2008,” said Satish Kumar of the RWA representing Hamilton Court, Windsor Court and Regency Park II. He added. “We therefore had no option but to disconnect electricity under clause 38.03 of the by-laws of our association, registered under Haryana Registration and Regulation of Societies Act, 2012. Why should 499 families in the condominium be burdened with her expense? We’ve also written to the concerned sub-divisional officer of DHBVN about the false allegations she has made.”
“It’s not the first time someone’s power supply has been disconnected. The RWA did this to one more household when they defaulted on maintenance bills. They, however, won a case in 2014 at the district court, which told the RWA to resume power and not repeat the offence,” said a resident of Regency Park 2, requesting anonymity.