Privatization of power distribution in DNH & DD: Supreme Court stays Bombay HC order
- July 14, 2021
Torrent Power, in a stock exchange filing, communicated that the Supreme Court of India has issued a stay on a Bombay High Court interim order regarding privatization of power distribution in the Union Territory of Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (DNH & DD).
The story so far
Torrent Power, in the last week of February 2021, announced that it had emerged as the highest bidder for acquiring 51 per cent stake in the power distribution company of the UT of DNH&DD. This privatization was in line with the Union power ministry’s proposal of May 2020 to privatize power distribution activities in all the Union territories—Chandigarh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Puducherry, Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh—in a phased manner.
Subsequently, on March 4, 2021, Torrent Power announced that the Bombay High Court has suspended the tender process in the wake of a PIL case filed before the court, until further orders in the matter.
Now, in a filing dated July 13, 2021, Torrent Power informed that the Supreme Court of India has, inter alia, granted stay of the operation of the aforesaid impugned interim order of Bombay High Court suspending tender process of the above referred bid, and to list the matter for hearing before the Supreme Court of India.
Profile
The geographical area of the UT of DNH & DD covers 603 sqkm. The estimated annual electricity sale is expected to be 9000 million kwh, coming through some 1.5 lakh consumers. Torrent Power expected annual revenues of Rs.4,500 crore from power distribution in this UT.
Current portfolio
Torrent Power currently distributes nearly 16.66 billion kwh per year to over 3.65 million customers in the cities of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Dahej SEZ and Dholera SIR in Gujarat; Bhiwandi, Shil, Mumbra and Kalwa in Maharashtra and Agra in Uttar Pradesh. It may be noted that Torrent Power is a distribution licensee in some areas and a distribution franchisee in others.
Featured photograph shows the Moti Daman fort, a major tourist attraction, at Daman. Sourced from hellotravel.com, the photograph is for illustration only. It may be mentioned that in January 2020, the erstwhile UTs of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli were formally merged into one single entity called Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, with Silvassa as its capital.
