The Appropriate Government may, by order in writing, for the placing of electric lines or electrical plant for the transmission of electricity or for the purpose of telephonic or telegraphic communications necessary for the proper co-ordination of works, confer upon any public officer, licensee or any other person engaged in the business of supplying electricity under this Act, subject to such conditions and restrictions, if any, as the Appropriate Government may think fit to impose and to the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885), any of the powers which the telegraph authority possesses under that Act with respect to the placing of telegraph lines and posts for the purposes of a telegraph established or maintained, by the Government or to be so established or maintained.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 164
Section 164 of the Electricity Act, 2003 empowers the Appropriate Government to confer upon any public officer, licensee, or generating company the powers of the Telegraph Authority under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 for the placing of electric lines and electrical plants.
Landowners seeking to halt transmission tower construction cannot obtain civil court injunctions; under Century Textiles, challenge the adequacy of compensation before the District Judge under Section 16(3) of the Telegraph Act, claiming tree value and land corridor diminution.