Why is the duration of non-supply of electricity not notified in advance through electronic and other media, the Madras High Court has asked.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam raised the question when a public interest writ petition from the Citizens Guardians of Ashok Nagar came up before it on Monday.
The PIL prayed for a direction to the authorities concerned to take immediate permanent measures to eliminate the power problems prevailing in Chennai in respect of outages, low voltage, fluctuations and flickerings by commissioning new sub-stations, enhancing transformer capacity and strengthening the LT/HT cable work.
During the course of argument, it was brought to the notice of the Bench that in many districts there had been supply of electricity only for a few hours.
In Coimbatore and other districts, there was no power supply for more than 12 hours a day.
The Bench directed the TNEB to file an additional affidavit giving full details of hours of non-supply of electricity in different districts, before proceeding in the matter. The Board should also state why duration of electricity non-supply was not notified in advance, the bench said and posted the matter for further hearing on December 3.