BENGALURU: The High Court on Thursday issued notices to the managing director of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) and Principal Secretary to the Energy Department on a PIL filed by a city advocate.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B V Nagarathna was hearing a petition filed by G R Mohan. The advocate appealed to the court to issue a direction to the respondents to strictly follow the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 and Rules 2005 in letter and spirit in the interest of the public with responsibility for optimum scheduling and dispatch of electricity.
The petitioner informed the court that throughout Karnataka there is unscheduled load-shedding, causing inconvenience to farmers, industrialists, students and the general public. There have been frequent power cuts in the state, especially in Bengaluru, for the last one week and this is not notified on the websites or in the newspapers, he said.
“Due to unscheduled load-shedding, elderly citizens are facing difficulty. Industries, offices, marriage halls, theatres, commercial establishments use lighting even during the day and streetlights are not switched off even after 6 am every day in the morning,” Mohan said.
He also informed the court that despite an assurance given by the High Court while hearing PIL in 2010, there is unscheduled load-shedding in urban and rural areas of the state even now.
The power cuts have increased by more than six hours a day in urban areas, including Bengaluru city after the BBMP election. During the run-up to the election, the respondents were providing power without any interruption, Mohan said.
He submitted that the respondents have filed a misleading statement of objections to the petition filed in 2010 that in order to augment generation capacity, they will get power from Chhattisgarh and a thermal power generation plant of 4,000 MW capacity will be set up at Kudgi (NTPC). They said that 4,000 MW of power is expected to be added in the next five years. The mismanagement on the part of the respondents has resulted in the present situation, he said.