Nearly a month after the Union Power Ministry directed the Telangana government to pay power dues of around Rs 6,756 crore to Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana High Court provided temporary relief to the state by staying the order and directed the Union government not to take any coercive steps against Telangana power utilities. Earlier on August 29, the Union government had directed the Telangana government to pay principal power dues amounting to Rs 3,441.78 crore, along with late payment surcharge of Rs 3,315.14 crore to Andhra Pradesh within a month. A bench of Justices P Naveen Rao and J Sreenivas Rao passed the interim direction to the Union government on Wednesday, September 28, while hearing pleas from the Telangana government and power utilities against the order to pay the power dues.
Supreme Court senior counsel Dushyant Dave who appeared on behalf of Telangana power utilities argued that the Union government should’ve discussed the concerns with the Southern Regional Council before passing the directions under Section 92 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, The Hindu reported. He also alleged that the Union government had favoured the Andhra Pradesh government as the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) had helped elect the former’s favoured candidates as President and Vice-President.
Senior counsel CV Mohan Reddy, who appeared on behalf of the Andhra Pradesh power distribution companies, said that the pending dues had pushed Andhra’s power utilities into non-performing assets as they had taken huge loans. He also argued that since the power was generated and provided to Telangana power utilities after the states’ bifurcation, provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act cannot be invoked, according to The New Indian Express. Additional Solicitor General of India Suryakaran Reddy insisted that since Andhra Pradesh had supplied power to Telangana due to the Union government’s intervention, the Union Power Ministry did have the authority to issue directions to pay the dues. The court asked the Union government, Andhra Pradesh government and various power utilities to file counter affidavits, and posted the next hearing for October 18.
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