Cuttack, April 28: The legal tangle over power tariff hike in Orissa has taken a new turn with the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) and Gridco questioning the scope for interference by Orissa High Court vis-a-vis maintainability of a PIL challenging it.

The outcome of the dispute assumes significance as the high court, on March 31, imposed restrictions on collection of the revised tariff in an interim stay order in response to a PIL which had challenged the OERC’s order enhancing tariff of electricity for 2011-2012 from April 1.

The questions were raised by counsels for the OERC and the Gridco when hearing on the PIL started on Wednesday. However, the high court had adjourned hearing to Friday.

The OERC, in it’s affidavit in response to the interim stay order, pointed out that the Supreme Court had already held that scope of judicial review in a PIL under Article 226 of the Constitution in respect of the tariff order was limited.

“The Supreme Court had, in its decisions, observed that the high court should not interfere with the considered order of the commission unless it is satisfied as to the parameters for judicial review of a quasi-legislative act such as, being perverse or based on no evidence,” OERC secretary Khetrabasi Swain contended in his affidavit.

Swain further questioned the maintainability of the PIL as there was an Appellate Tribunal for Electricity against an order passed by it.

Gridco’s director (finance and corporate affairs) Bibhu Prasad Mohapatra, in his affidavit in response to the interim stay order, contended that the PIL “is not maintainable due to availability of adequate efficacious alternate remedy of appeal as provided in Section 111 of the Electricity Act 2003 which provides that every order of the commission is appealable to the appellate tribunal for electricity”.

“The writ petition otherwise involves disputed questions of facts which cannot be decided in a writ petition for which the appellate forum is the appropriate remedy which can go into allegations of both fact and law,” Mohapatra said.

The Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), the Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL) and the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) had also filed their respective affidavits questioning maintainability of the PIL on the same ground.

The electricity tariff for domestic consumers has been fixed at Rs 3.50 for the 50 units to 100 units slab in place of Rs 1.40. Similarly, for the 100 units to 200 units and 200 units to 300 units slabs, it has been increased from Rs 3.10 to Rs 3.50 and Rs 4.10 to Rs 4.30, respectively. The Federation of Consumer Organisations Orissa, the Keonjhar Navanirman Parishad and a consumer Arun Kumar Sahoo had filed the PIL seeking judicial intervention against it as it would pose heavy burden on the consumers.

On the other hand, both the OERC and the Gridco had, in their respective counter affidavits, indicated that if collection of enhanced power tariff was not allowed, there would be loadshedding in Orissa.

“The consequential effect on the Gridco and the power sector in Orissa will be disastrous. The Gridco will fail to make payment of the generators bills resulting in regulation of power supply by the generators which may stretch up to six hours or more every day,” the Gridco officials stated.

“It may lead to load regulation by the generators which would impact the DISCOMs by way of loadshedding of around 767 MW every month. In other words, around 30 per cent load is to be restricted for Orissa which includes both subsidised and subsidising categories of consumers,” the OERC stated in its affidavit.