Relief to Anil Ambani group discoms in Delhi

The order came a day ahead of the hearing of the companies before Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission tomorrow

In a relief to Anil Ambani Group discoms, the apex electricity tribunal today directed Delhi's power regulator DERC not to take a final decision on revoking their licenses without its permission despite a recommendation by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in this regard.

The order by Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, on an interim petition by BSES discoms which sought its intervention on the issue, came a day ahead of the hearing of the companies before Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) tomorrow.

On Monday, Delhi government had recommended to DERC to revoke the license of BSES discoms if they fail to pay dues to state-run power generator NTPC, which has given February 10 deadline to the companies to do so, and resort to long outages in large parts of the city.

After Delhi government's recommendation, DERC had served notices on BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd asking them to present their case tomorrow at a hearing in the Commission on the contentious issue.

The Tribunal, headed by former Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court M Karpaga Vinayagam, said the two discoms can appear before DERC and make their submissions with regard to the letter of Delhi government and the Commission may continue to proceed with the matter by hearing the parties concerned.

"But the Commission is directed not to pass the final order in the above proceedings without leave of the Tribunal during the pendency of these interim applications," the order by Justice Vinayagam and technical expert in ATE Rakesh Nath said. ATE has jurisdiction to take up power-related disputes across the country as per provisions of Electricity Act, 2003.

The order was made after the discoms filed an interim petition with ATE which is hearing a plea by the BSES discoms seeking liquidation of their regulatory assets to recover past losses. The plea was filed last year.

ATE order also comes a day after Delhi government expressed its readiness to take over power distribution in the city to control the "ugly situation".

Amid the confrontation, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had attacked Anil Ambani, chairman of ADAG which operates BSES Yamuna Power Lts and BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. These two discoms supply power in 70 per cent areas in Delhi.