Electricity, supply of: India
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Discoms, private
CAG cannot audit private discoms: HC
The Times of India, Oct 31 2015
Abhinav Garg
Blow to Kejri: CAG can't audit discoms
In a blow to the Kejriwal government, Delhi high court on Friday struck down its decision to get power discoms audited by CAG. It pointed out that there was a regulator, Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, for auditing the accounts of private discoms for tariff determination and CAG could not usurp that role. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw observed that the purpose of the CAG audit -to examine if power tariffs were properly determined -was the exclusive domain of DERC. Thus, the purpose of the audit wasis not if privatisation has ser ved any purpose or whether the terms of the transfer scheme were in the interest of the Delhi government. The sole purposepurport of the audit is tariff determination,“ the bench observed, faulting the process.
The pre-poll promise that resulted in a formal request to CAG to carry out an audit of discoms in January 2014 was described as a “populist measure“ by the court which questioned the public interest behind the exercise. Since the state government and Delhi assembly have no power to take action on the findings, the court said it “ultimately may serve no purpose“.
“Such populist measures...not only end up being contrary to public interest but also put an unnecessary burden on the courts,“ the bench noted, quashing Delhi government's January 7, 2014 direction for the CAG audit.
Even as it recognized the constitutional powers of CAG, the bench faulted the Delhi government for rushing through the audit request instead of inviting objections from the discoms to a CAG au dit. “What emerges is that the discoms were given an oppor unity to represent (their point of view) before consul ations had taken place be ween the administrator and CAG and before the terms and conditions of such audit had been agreed upon between CAG and the concerned government,“ the court noted, cancelling the audit on this preliminary ground.
In its 139-page verdict, the court also criticised the government for not empowering DERC and instead embarking on “a misguided exercise by directing the CAG audit when ts report would not have any sanctity in law for achieving the desired result.“
“The direction for audit of discoms by CAG, when the report of CAG cannot impact the tariff, would not also serve any public interest,“ the court noted, lamenting that four years were wasted when “what was sought to be achieved could have been achieved by invoking the powers of DERC.“
The judges said “we are unable to decipher anything which DERC cannot but CAG can unearth“, pointing out that “once by law a regulatory body has been constituted with powers to have the ac counts of the discoms audited, there can be no other audit at the instance of the state government.“
It disagreed with the stand of the government and of an NGO that filed the PIL United RWAs Joint Action (URJA) that the audit was ordered in public interest for determining the tariff.
The court said that “determination of tariff is in sole domain of DERC which is well-empowered to itself conduct the same, and the report of the CAG audit has no place in the regulatory regime brought about by the Electricity Act and the Reforms Act.“
HC differentiates between audit of discoms, telcos
The Times of India, Oct 31 2015
Abhinav Garg
HC draws line between audit of discoms, telcos
With its verdict, the Delhi high court made an exception even though the Supreme Court had held earlier that large private corporations benefiting from state funding must face the national auditor. In fact, last year, an HC bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and V Kameswar Rao had also allowed auditing of private telecom firms. HC had permitted CAG to go ahead with its scrutiny despite claims by private telecom companies that they already had in place a mechanism of special audit as envisaged in the licence agreement between them and the department of telecommunications. The telcos also argued that they operated in a regulatory regime under TRAI. But HC, dealing with sections 13 and 16 of CAG Act, held CAG has independent powers to audit, irrespective of other licences, rules and agreements between govern ment and private players.
Later, an SC bench of Jus ices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar upheld the verdic by observing that the telecom spectrum is a scarce, valuable resource and a private firm using it on behalf of the gov ernment should be subjected o CAG audit.
In its verdict on Friday, the bench showed it is aware o the SC ruling but went on to differentiate the discoms' PIL from the telecom case. Writing for the bench, Justice R S Endlaw said CAG's powers to audit the firms are limited to “any of the transaction of Delhi government with discoms in the matter of transfer scheme“, which means the entire privatisation process.
But the court struck down the audit as “the reason for which audit has been directed is not to examine the transaction but on the suspicion of tariff having not been proper ly determined and which is in exclusive domain of DERC“.
CAG's standing counsel, Gaurang Kanth explained the difference: “HC upheld our contention, accepted and reiterated the fact that CAG is the fourth pillar of the Constitution and can audit a pri vate body or authority . But in the present case, it observed that the government has not followed the procedure prescribed for the CAG audit.“
Initiatives by the government
September 2017/ PM Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya)
Free connections
Under the PM Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya), every household in the country will be given an electricity connection. No price will be charged for the poor to get an electricity connection and the government will go to their houses to give them the connection.
The government will bear the expected ₹16,000 crore cost of giving electricity connections to the 4 crore households in the country.
“It’s been over 125 years when the famous scientist Thomas Alva Edison invented the bulb and who had said: ‘We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles’,” the PM stressed, highlighting that it is unfortunate that yet many households are lit with the help of candles or lanterns.
“Forgot about conveniences, even the women of the house have to cook in the dark, which is why most of them are under pressure to try and finish the cooking before the sun sets,” Mr. Modi said, after inaugurating the Deen Dayal Urja Bhavan, a new green building built by public sector oil explorer ONGC in the capital.
