Andhra High Court suspends government orders on PPAs for 4 weeks, government not to cancel pacts unilaterally
VIJAYAWADA: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday suspended for four weeks the government order (GO RT No 63) constituting the High-Level Negotiation Committee (HLNC) to review PPAs and renegotiate and bring down the high wind and solar energy purchase prices.
Several writ petitions were filed in the High Court against setting up of the committee to review and renegotiate the prices of wind and solar power, which the government felt were exorbitant and a burden on the debt-ridden Discoms.
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The petitioners’ companies - Axis Wind Farms Anantapur Pvt. Ltd., M/s Waaneep Solar Private Limited, Renew Power Ltd, ACME Solar Private Holding, Vena Energy Power Resources Private Limited, Ushodaya Enterprises Private Limited, Ecoren Energy India Private Limited, M/s Azure Power India Ltd. etc - approached the High Court and through their advocates C Gunaranjan, P Sriram and Avinash Desai, urged the court to quash the GO and restrain the respondent (State government) from taking any steps towards reduction of tariff and termination of PPAs.
They also urged the court to restrain the State from taking any coercive steps against the petitioners including termination of PPAs and withholding payment of monthly energy bills.
The government, represented by Advocate General S Sriram, defended its decision to review PPAs and contended that it was well within its purview to take such a step.
Countering the contentions of the petitioners, the AG said that the State had the power to be involved in the subject matter. “Electricity is in the concurrent list and the State is competent to intervene,” he argued.
The show-cause notice issued by the Discoms threatening cancellation of PPAs if the latter didn’t agree for negotiations was only aimed at seeking revision of the terms of PPAs in accordance with the procedure under the electricity Act, the State government contended adding that it intended to move the APERC in this regard.
The committee was constituted only to explore consensus, it said and denied adopting any threat or coercive tactics.
When the AG clarified that the state government would not unilaterally cancel PPAs and, instead, approach the APERC in this regard, the petitioners also expressed their agreement to the proposal.
The expert committee set up in pursuance of the GO 63, in its report, found several violations and was in the process of ascertaining them, the AG said. The APERC even wrote a letter to the government and sought its opinion on revision of PPA terms.
In response to this the government was trying to find the truth, the AG said. Justice M Ganga Rao after hearing the arguments suspended the GO for four weeks and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.
Government competent to review PPAs: AG
The government, represented by Advocate General S Sriram, defended its decision to review PPAs and contended that it was well within its purview to take such a step. “Electricity is in the concurrent list and the State is competent to intervene,” he said.