PM Modi hand in glove with power discoms: Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi CM had said that Jung has cancelled his government's order to make discoms pay compensation for unscheduled power cuts

Arvind Kejriwal on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being "hand in glove" with power distribution companies after Lt Governor Najeeb Jung termed as "incorrect" the chief minister's allegations that he cancelled the AAP government's decision to make discoms compensate consumer for unscheduled outages.

Kejriwal also alleged that the PM has asked Jung to do what power companies want.

"Modiji is in the pockets of power companies. Power companies are hand in glove with Modi. Modiji asked LG on phone to do what they (discoms) say," he tweeted.

Addressing a public gathering in Najafgarh on Saturday, he had said that Jung has cancelled his government's order to make discoms pay compensation for unscheduled power cuts, alleging that Centre was hand in glove with power companies.

In a statement on Monday, the LG office said that it has not asked for any specific file and not issued any fresh order on this issue so far.

"Files have been submitted to the office of the Lt Governor by the GNCTD following the Hon'ble High Court's order dated 4th August 2016," it stated.

It further said that all such files, which have come to the Lt Governor's office, are likely to contain constitutional infirmities.

The statement also quoted the high court's order on the matter: "The proceedings of the Government of NCT of Delhi, Department of Power No.F.11(58)/2010/Power/1856 dated 12.06.2015 issuing policy directions to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission regarding disruption in electricity supply to consumers and compensation payable in respect thereof are illegal and unconstitutional since such policy directions cannot be issued without communicating to the Lt Governor of NCT of Delhi for his views."

The LG's office further said that it is unfortunate that factually "incorrect and misleading" statements are being placed in the public domain.

"We had passed an order under which discoms would have to compensate consumers for unscheduled power cuts. They were bound to pay a penalty of Rs 100 for power cuts extending up to one hour.

"15 days ago, LG sahab called the file pertaining to this matter and cancelled this order. Modi is hand in glove with power companies. Why Modiji needed to turn down this order?" Kejriwal asked.