And there goes another deadline. The State Government has extended the deadline for declaring the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) a company by another three months.
The new date is September 30, 2012. Time had run out for the government on June 30, and the extension, the latest in a long list, was availed of on the basis of the Kerala Electricity First Transfer Scheme 2008.
Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed said that the government had given itself more time, but hoped to wind up the within the three-month period.
“It can be done. The unions have put forth certain demands, such as a pension fund which we have to form,” he said.
In May, the unions had taken to the warpath demanding a water-tight, tripartite agreement for protecting the employees once the KSEB is made a company. The unbundling of the KSEB has a long history, peppered with deadline revisions.
During the LDF Government’s term, the assets and liabilities of the board were vested with the state Power Department - in September 2008 - and, subsequently, a new company was registered under the name KSEB Ltd. The LDF Government had also announced that the company would be retained as a single unit in the public sector.
But so far, the assets have not been transferred to the new company.
By 2008, the Centre had allowed 11 extensions to the state.
When the Centre declined to indulge the state further, the assets and liabilities of the KSEB were transferred to the state Power Department.
The transfer scheme insists that the they be transferred to the new public limited company by September 30, 2009, but this remained on paper.
According to the Power department, the state does not require the approval of the Centre for setting a new deadline since the decision is taken on the basis of the Electricity Act 2003 and the Kerala Electricity First Transfer Scheme 2008.