The veiled warning was issued by Enron counsel K K Venugopal when he said that the ongoing delays arising out of the seemingly unending court litigations were making the project "unviable". Venugopal went further ahead to say that after having gone unscathed through 11 litigations the "time has come to think if this is the last straw on the camel's back".
The Dabhol Power Company, when contacted, said that nothing more should be read into its counsel's statements which were soon interpreted by observers as a threat to back out of the project. Sanjay Bhatnagar, vice-president of EDC, told Business Standard: "What these statements mean are that we would like the court to expedite the judgment. Delays are costing us money. Moreover, everything is ready for work on the project to restart, all that is awaited is the judgment."
The day's court proceedings began with the state government counsel Ram Jethmalani admitting that no affidavit will be filed by either chief minister Manohar Joshi or energy minister Gopinath Munde. The court had given a week's time on August 19 to the state in case it wished to file an affidavit.
When Jethmalani said the state government did not wish to file an affidavit, the division bench of Justice B P Saraf and M N Rane gave clear-cut directions to the state to file its submission by September 2.
At this juncture, the EDC counsel Venugopal said: "Whether the government acted in haste or vacillated, the question is whether the change in the stand of the government of Maharashtra has any effect on the legality and the validity of the power project itself or the power purchase agreements, both original and revised.
Later, he claimed that the company was incurring huge suspension costs of $ 250,000 daily towards interest costs and charges on amounts committed by lenders. "Institutional lenders will not give a single penny till all the suits are disposed off, he said.
