Deshmukh may revive Kurdukar probe into DPC affairs to snub Pawar

The SP Kurdukar commission (probing Dabhol Power Company affairs) that has been non-functional for over a year after the Supreme Court temporarily stayed its scope of enquiry to investigate the orders and decisions taken by the Union government and the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) may find a new lease of life in the wake of the ongoing war of words between the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders in Maharashtra.

A well placed secretariat official told this newspaper that Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is likely to meet the commission officials this week in a bid to revive its probe at the state level.

It may be noted that Deshmukh had set up the Kurdukar commission during his previous stint as the state CM, in a political gambit aimed at embarrassing the NCP, that held the energy portfolio when the Dabhol Power Company (DPC) project was cleared.

The commission was then authorised to probe the various acts of omission and commission by the state and central government officials and politicians who okayed the Enron-promoted DPC project in Maharashtra.

However, the Union government filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the commission of enquiry headed Kurdukar on April 9, 2003.

An ex-parte ad-interim stay order by the apex court directed the commission to exclude the decisions of the of the central government and the CEA from its scope of enquiry and directed it to limit itself to the role of the state government, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and their constituents such as Crisil, Bank of America and Freshfields.

The Kurdukar commission of enquiry was set up by Deshmukh on the basis of the conclusions arrived at by the Madhav Godbole committee report on the DPC project.

The report had stated that the assertions relating to the benefits from the project, namely the effectiveness of negotiations, its design and size, the need for power and the competitiveness of tariff, for both Phase I and Phase II of the project were proven false and were based on extremely questionable assumptions.

"The arguments advanced to support those decisions appear to be unconvincing and prima facie against public interest," the Godbole report had observed.

Godbole had recommended an in-depth probe, recording of evidence under oath and calling for relevant records pertaining to the project from the state government as well as the Union government and their agencies.

Speaking to Business Standard today, Kurdukar said, "The case pending before the Supreme Court is likely to be posted for hearing soon. After the apex court stayed the commission's scope of enquiry into orders and decisions taken by the Government of India a year back, the work of the commission was majorly constrained as its terms of reference needed to explore the role the Union government in sanctioning the DPC project."

He added that he was yet to receive a formal intimation regarding a meeting with CM.

During its brief term of functioning, the commission had issued notices to literally the who's who of the Indian bureaucracy to furnish details of their role in the DPC project being sanctioned, before the Supreme Court issued a stay.

According to a political source, Deshmukh is likely to take stock of the data already gathered by the commission, at least at the state government level in a bid to embarrass the Sharad Pawar-led NCP which is an alliance partner in the Democratic Front government headed by him in the state.

Already, a war of words has erupted with both parties trying to undermine each other on a host of issues, the latest being on the appointment of former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna as Maharashtra governor.

NCP leaders, including deputy CM RR Patil have gone on record stating they were not consulted on the appointment of Krishna despite being the single largest party following the state assembly elections.

Giving a political turn to the appointment, the NCP has stated that since Maharashtra has border disputes with Karnataka since 40 years, the appointment of a former Karnataka CM may undermine resolution efforts.

Reacting to these statements, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Prabha Rau told mediapersons today, "I do not know of any policy decision taken that restrains the appointment of a person from either state to the other in view of the 40 year old border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka. I also feel that sometimes getting two states together may be a preferable option to resolving disputes."