Does the electricity supply to a lawyer’s chamber within his residential premises qualify as domestic or commercial usage?

996

The Calcutta High Court has recently held that electricity usage in a lawyer’s chamber in his residential property, though non-domestic, cannot be automatically categorized as commercial (urban) usage as the legal profession, which requires a certain amount of skill cannot be called a commercial activity where profit from a business is paramount. The activity undertaken in a lawyer’s chamber is only to earn a livelihood from a profession. A lawyer’s chamber is unlike a law firm, operating out of commercial spaces, dealing with both litigation and non-litigation work. Relying on apex court precedents, the department was directed to supply electricity to the chamber at domestic(urban) rates.