Cuttack, May 2: Orissa High Court today reserved judgment on the PILs challenging order of the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) enhancing the power tariff for 2011-2012 from April 1.

On March 31, the high court imposed restrictions on collection of the revised tariff from consumers by issuing an interim stay order on the OERC’s order. The two-judge bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra reserved judgment after hearing on both maintainability of the PILs and validity of the revised tariff order.

The bench had taken up three writ petitions for analogous hearing. While one was filed by the Federation of Consumer Organisations Orissa, the Keonjhar Navanirman Parishad, and a consumer, Arun Kumar Sahoo, the other two were filed by the Utkal Chamber of Commerce (UCC) representing 239 business houses in Orissa and the Rohit Ferrotech Ltd of Kalinganagar Industrial Complex.

Opposing contentions of the OERC, the Gridco, distribution companies and generating companies UCC’s counsel Pitambar Acharya said that “when the state government had taken the stand that the revised tariff is exorbitantly high and irrational argument put forth by the Gridco, a state PSU appears to be contradictory”.

Acharya said “the Supreme Court, in unequivocal terms, has laid down the law that when the allegation of statutory violation is made out the high court, in exercise of its writ jurisdiction, can set at naught the tariff order determined by the OERC”.

The UCC counsel had earlier said: “The OERC while determining the tariff had not safeguarded or protected the consumers’ interest, but made an attempt to protect interest of the Reliance Energy, licensee in respect of three distribution companies — Wesco, Nesco and Southco.”

The OERC had questioned maintainability of the writ petitions as there was an Appellate Tribunal for Electricity against an order passed by it. The commission pointed out that the Supreme Court had held that scope of judicial review in a PIL under Article 226 of the Constitution in respect of tariff order is limited.

The Gridco, the Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), the Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL) and the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) had also questioned maintainability of the PILs on the same ground.