The Supreme Court today directed BSES Rajdhani to pay Rs 25 crore to the Damodar Valley Corporation, and BSES Yamuna to pay Rs 20 crore by November 30. In addition, the two discoms supplying electricity to the capital shall also pay current charges by due date according to the bills of DVC.
Both companies pleaded that they were running at huge losses due to unviable tariff fixed by the regulatory commission and therefore were allowed by the court to renogotiate or settle the agreement on charges. The order was passed by a bench headed by Justice D K Jain, while taking up the case of power shortage in Delhi. The order clarified it was an interim arrangement to test the bona fides of the two discoms. The court will review the order on December 8. When DVC lawyer submitted that it was also running up huge losses, and was finding difficulty to pay the coal bills, the judges remarked that the company was not doing any charity, and if they are not making profits, they should leave the job to other companies. No one is indispensable, they added. There was a power cut in the Supreme Court at this moment, and the judges remarked light-heartedly that "Even the New Delhi Municipal Corporation is not indispensable; we have made our own standby arrangments in the court."
All the companies, except NDPL, another discom, narrated their financial woes. However, the court said that they would not go into the details of their problems and will only decide on the immediate crisis of huge arrears. Rajdhani has run up dues to the tune of Rs 88 crore from May, while Yamuna has dues over Rs 58 crore. The order was meant to tackle the immediate problem.
