Continue power supply to Raj: HC tells Guj power companies

Justice Mohammad Rafiq also asked the state discoms to arrange the unpaid amount and deposit it by the next due date.

The interim order came on a petition filed by three state discoms, which had moved to court after the companies had threatened to discontinue power supply if they failed to pay the overdue of Rs 96.29 crore in 24 hours.

The discoms -- Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited and Jodhpur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited -- had moved the court against the notice.

Appearing for the discoms, Advocate General G S Bapna told the court that on January 2, the Gujarat-based companies had issued a demand note with a rider that if the payment was not made immediately, it would stop power supply after 24 hours of the receipt of the notice.

Bapna contested that state power discoms have been making regularly payments to these companies.

"We received the notice on January 4 and wrote a letter immediately to CGPL that JVVNL has arranged Rs 32.35 crore, AVVNL Rs 8.42 crore, and Jodhpur VVNL Rs 22.06 crore for payment which will be disbursed shortly. But their request to withdraw the notice was not heeded," Bapna said.

On behalf of CGPL, its lawyer argued that as per the power procurement agreement, the matter has to be adjudicated by an arbitrator and the high court has got no jurisdiction to pass any order on the dispute.

Besides, the case was out of the Rajasthan High Court's territorial jurisdiction as the matter pertained to a company based in Gujarat, he argued.

Reserving the question of maintainability of petition filed by state discoms, the court issued notice to CGPL and the two companies, asking it to file a reply by January 28.

Till then, the court asked it to continue supply to Rajasthan and asked the state discoms to get the due amounts deposited by the next due date.