Delhi HC stays Centre’s order to divert power from Capital’s share to Haryana

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[google-translator]

Stating that the national capital should not remain without electricity even for a minute, the Delhi high court on Wednesday put on hold an order of the Union power ministry to divert 728 megawatt (MW) of electricity to Haryana from the national capital’s allocation.

“Imagine the national capital being disconnected with electricity…Not even for one second…Why will we wait for a spectre of disconnects?” justice Yashwant Varma said while staying the order of the ministry till Friday.

Remarking that the matter needed further consideration, the judge issued notices to all respondents and posted the next hearing to April 1.

The present case pertains to a power ministry order of March 29, by which it diverted the electricity allocated to Delhi from the NTPC plant in Dadri to Haryana from April 1, citing a letter sent by Delhi power minister Satyendar Jain in July 2015.

“Keeping in view the power surrendered by Delhi in Dadri-II Station of NTPC and the willingness of Government of Haryana, it has been decided to reallocate surrendered/available share of 728.68 MW to Haryana from Dadri-II Station of NTPC w.e.f. 01.04.2022 to 31.10.2022…CEA is requested to get the allocation implemented under intimation to all concerned with effect from April 1, 2022,” Raja Ramaswamy, under secretary at power ministry, said in a letter to Central Electricity Authority (CEA) on March 28, 2022.

On Tuesday, the CEA issued an order notifying the changes that would effectively bring down Delhi’s share of electricity from the Dadri-2 plant to zero.

Challenging this decision, Delhi power discoms BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna moved the high court, arguing that the decision was arbitrary and 23% of the city is set to face major power cuts this summer.

The plea sought to prevent a blackout in Delhi because of the diversion of power, which will seriously jeopardise the energy security scenario of the state.

It also sought to safeguard the livelihood and interest of approximately 44 lakh (4.4 million) consumers, especially considering the early onset of the summer this year, during which time over 21% of base demand of 3,356 MW of BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna is historically met by Dadri-2

Their stand was supported by the Delhi government, represented by senior advocate Rahul Mehra, who said the city would face a serious power crisis, if the Centre’s order is implemented.

Delhi’s peak power demand on Tuesday was 4,332MW, and is expected to cross 8,000MW this summer. Last year, Delhi clocked a peak power demand of 7,323 MW.

On Tuesday, senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for the power discoms, told the court that the order of the Union government was arbitrary as no request for surrender was made by Delhi or the power discoms.

Mehra told the court that the order is creating an artificial crisis and from Friday, Delhi residents will have to suffer power cuts. He also argued that a communication from 2015 cannot hold relevance in 2022.

The counsel for the Northern Region Power Committee (NRPC) told the court that Delhi has already surrendered its allocation and cannot now ask for the power, claiming that there is a deficit.

She said the NRPC does not have any independent right to give power to Delhi, Haryana, Punjab or any other state— it is the central government which allocates the power so far as the central generating stations are concerned.

She claimed that in 2019, the Delhi government and the discoms wrote to the Union government that they do not require power from Dadri-2.

Central government counsel told the court that he does not have any instructions and urged the court to take up the matter on Thursday.

The court, however, noted that a schedule for power for Friday has to be made before 10am Thursday, failing which there will be power cuts from Friday midnight and over 23% of the Delhi populace would be affected. It also questioned the Centre as to how the state would arrange for the nearly 700MW power.

“The communication has come on March 29 and the entire shifting has to be done overnight in order for there to be uninterrupted supply. I think your ministry (power) should start making arrangements,” the court told the Union government counsel.


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