BD5,000 utilities claim upheld despite five-year limitation argument

TDT | Manama

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

A civil appeal court has upheld a ruling ordering an electricity and water subscriber to pay BD5,000 in unpaid bills dating back 11 years, rejecting her claim that the case should be dismissed because it exceeded the five-year time limit.

The Electricity and Water Authority filed the lawsuit after the woman failed to settle her electricity and water charges over more than a decade. Her lawyer argued that the claim was time-barred under Article 368 of the Civil Code, which limits the state’s ability to recover taxes and certain government fees to five years.

However, the court ruled that the article does not apply in this case. It explained that electricity and water bills are payments for services, not government fees or taxes, and therefore fall outside the scope of the fiveyear limit.

In its decision, the court cited constitutional court principles that distinguish taxes and fees from other types of state revenue. Payments for public utilities such as electricity, water, telecommunications, transport, aviation and healthcare, it noted, are treated more like commercial charges for services provided.

The court also found that the subscriber had indeed benefited from the services during the disputed period, and records showed she had been renting the property at the time. The Authority submitted detailed statements of the outstanding amounts, which the court said accurately supported the claim.

The appeal court therefore upheld the original order requiring her to pay BD5,000, in addition to court costs and BD100 in legal fees.