The Supreme Court today did not pass any order on a plea of private discoms BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd that there should not be any disruption in supply to them by the power generating PSU firms till their pleas on payment of arrears are decided.
"No country can let its capital to be in dark. The government cannot afford it," a bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said while fixing the pleas of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firms for hearing on December 16.
The BSES firms, besides various reliefs, are seeking relaxation in payment of dues to power generating and transmitting companies like NTPC Ltd, Damodar Valley Corp.
During the brief hearing, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram, appearing for BSES firms, said that the power tariff (in Delhi) is not cost-reflective and the cost is much higher than the tariff.
The company was "not in capacity" to comply with the court's earlier orders directing it to clear the dues arising after January 1, Chidambaram said.
One of the discoms contended that to clear the dues through the year, the company had to take huge loans worth over Rs 700 crore from banks at high interest rates. It said the revenue collected was not sufficient to meet the cost.
Earlier, the court had asked BSES to pay Rs 257 crore, dues till June 30, to power generating companies.
The company sought the court's permission to pay only 70 per cent of the current dues till the court is hearing BSES' plea for release of money owed to the company by Delhi Electricity Regulatory Authority.
Senior counsel K K Venugopal, appearing for NTPC, said Tata Power Delhi Distribution Company was also operating under the same circumstances as BSES but the former was not defaulting on payments.
The apex court had asked BSES to clear dues arising after January 1.
The court had said that it will later decide on the controversy on pre-January 2014 arrears owed by BSES Yamuna Power Pvt Ltd and BSES Rajdhani Pvt Ltd towards power generating companies, as well as the amount claimed by BSES from Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission.
