The power scenario in the state capital could brighten up in near future with the high court giving Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) the permission to go ahead with the appointment of distribution franchisee in Patna.
A bench of Justice J.N. Singh observed on Thursday that the BSEB could take a final decision on the appointment of distribution franchisees in Patna and Muzaffarpur according to the request for proposal (RFP), 2011.
The court passed the directive while hearing Essar Power Ltd’s petition seeking directive to the board to award the franchisee for the Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu) area in Patna and Muzaffarpur (based on the bid submitted by it on June 20, 2011.) The order assumes significance because the board could now award the responsibility of power supply to a private party. It had started the process for the appointment of distribution franchisees in Patna, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Gaya in 2009.
The selected franchisee’s job would be supply and distribution, meter reading, bill distribution, revenue collection, maintaining low-tension lines and attending to fuse-off calls.
The franchisee would be permitted to use the existing infrastructure of the board for the desired operation but would not be the owner of the infrastructure. The system would work on input-based model. The board would charge for what it would supply to the distribution franchisee.
Appearing for Essar Power Ltd, senior advocate Y.V. Giri contended that the board should award franchisee to the firm (Essar Power Ltd) as it fulfilled the terms and conditions of the board for the appointment of the franchisee. His assistant, Kumar Manish, said the board itself admitted in its affidavit that Essar Power Ltd had qualified the technical and financial bid. He also claimed that the company had quoted a price much above the base reserve price as fixed by the board.
The counsel submitted that the people of the state were facing power problem and so the board should be directed to take a decision on the appointment of the franchisee for Patna and Muzaffarpur. Power problem could be a thing of the past in Patna after the appointment of Essar Power Ltd as the distribution franchisee because the company could provide uninterrupted power supply from its own generating units, the lawyer added.
The BSEB had come out with the RFP for the appointment of distribution franchisee in Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Gaya in 2009. A host of power firms bid for the franchisee. Gudyne Power Ltd and CESC were the highest and second highest bidder, respectively. But CESC became the highest bidder after Gudyne was declared ineligible for participating in the bid after its partner went out of the consortium.
The board cancelled CESC’s bid in 2011, saying it would lose heavily if it awarded the bid to CESC because the tender was floated in 2009 on the basis of 2007-08 tariff.
Aggrieved with the decision, CESC approached high court, which stayed the board’s order. A division bench later lifted the stay and told the board that it could go ahead with the tendering process but cannot award franchisee to anyone. The division bench finally disposed of the board’s petition, saying a single bench would decide the matter.
