Residents’ association moves HC against Centre’s decision to privatise Chandigarh Electricity Department

A group of residents of Chandigarh under the banner of Federation of Sectors Welfare Association, Chandigarh (FOSWAC) has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking to quash the decision of the central government to privatise the functions of the Electricity Wing of the Engineering Department of Chandigarh. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed on Monday is scheduled to come up for hearing on May 30, next year.

The petitioners through counsel, Dhiraj Chawla, contended that their grievance is against the privatisation of Chandigarh Electricity Department by selling its 100 percent stake. The FOSWAC has sought to quash the government decision dated May 12, 2020, of the Union (Ministry of Power & Renewable Energy) to privatise the functions of Electricity Wing of the Engineering Department of Chandigarh (which is Distribution and Supply) by selling off its stake to the extent of 100 per cent by way of inviting bids to a private operator. The petitioner has stated that the move is contrary to the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 without inviting objections from the Chandigarh residents who have to ultimately pay the energy charges to a private entity and obviously much more than the present state owned energy provider.

The petitioner contended that the move to privatise completely smacks of ulterior motives and profiteering at the cost of public, especially when Chandigarh has the lowest tariff compared to other states and still churning profits of Rs 115 crore approximately annually. The department is being privatised “only to favour their blue eyed person for extraneous reasons”, the FOSWAC stated in the PIL.