The Church of Tabernacle of David in Ipoh, Perak plans to sue national utility Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) for disconnecting their electricity supply.

Lawyer R Kengadharan, who represents the church, said his client had instructed him to do so after a failed appeal with TNB chief executive officer Che Khallib Mohamed Noh yesterday.

Khallib's assistant had told the Kengadharan and his client that a letter of authorisation from the premise's owner Millennium Yield Sdn Bhd must be obtained before the electricity supply can be resumed.

According to Kengadharan, the request was unreasonable as the church was currently challenging Millennium Yield over propriety rights.

"Thus our clients have instructed us to file a suit against TNB on refusal to supply electricity and their CEO for arbitrary conduct and behaviour in ordering for the supply to be cut," he said.

'On and off'

On Monday, TNB served and acted a termination of service notice to the church. In copies of the notice made available to malaysiakini, no reasons were given for the termination.

The next day, church representatives obtained a recommendation letter from the Ipoh Energy Commission office, which reminded TNB of their responsibility as license holders in supplying electricity to all premises and residents in accordance with the Electricity Supply Act 1990.

Upon presenting the letter to the TNB office in Ipoh, electricity was restored, but not before being disconnected again at 2pm on Wednesday, prompting pastor G Menon Manasa seek intervention from Khallib at TNB headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

In a related development, the Prime Minister's Department had yet to respond to a protest memorandum submitted on Sept 27 by the same church pertaining to allegations of a 'third-party' trying to evict the church from its premises.

Church spokesperson N Gobalakrishnan said the prime Minnister's political secretary, Ahmad Yaakob, in receiving the memorandum promised a reply within a week.

Gobalakrishnan, who is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat national integration division chief, said that the church was disappointed that there has been no response from the department at all.