HC directs state govt, ASEB to clear Rs 654-cr dues

GUWAHATI, February 14: The Gauhati High Court, by an interim order, has directed the government of Assam and the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) to make a scheme to clear the outstanding arrear amount of Rs 654.21 crores due to the NEEPCO for supply of power to the state. A division bench, comprising Justice H K Sarma and Justice P G Agarwal passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Gautom Uzir regarding the threat by NEEPCO to curtail power supply to the state power grids. While the arrear amount of Rs 654.21 crore is due for the period from January 1997 to June 2000, the arrear of current charge for supplying power from July 2000 to December 2000 amounts to Rs 103.5 crore. The bench directed that this amount would be cleared equally by the state government and the Board in six equal instalments. The High Court also instructed that the first instalment of Rs 40 crore to be equally shared by the two bodies, would be paid to NEEPCO by March 31, 2001. Thereafter, the government and the board would pay Rs 20 crore in shared equally every month starting from April, 2001. For the power received by the ASEB from the corporation, worth Rs 18.4 crore per month, the state government has been directed to pay Rs 3 crores and the ASEB would pay Rs 12 crore every month with effect from January 2001. The court passed the order after hearing senior advocates P K Goswami and N N Lahiri assisted by M Z Ahmed who represented the NEEPCO, B C Das for the Assam government and Hrishikesh Roy and B D Das who stood on behalf of the ASEB.