Dabhol power plant should function again: Supreme Court

Wednesday, 03 December 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: The Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra, set up with one of the largest foreign investments in India and shut for two years, should be revived, the Supreme Court observed Tuesday. The court also asked two of the stakeholders, GE and Bechtel, to respond to suggestions for fixing the rate at which the Dhabol Power Corporation (DPC) would sell electricity to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) if the plant was revived. "We are of the opinion that it is in everybody's interest that the plant starts functioning again," a bench comprising judges Y.K. Sabharwal and D.M. Dharmadhikari said. It said it would also consider the issue of fixing the price at which the plant should sell its electricity. The bench also directed that the Indian government be made a party to the case. The plant was shut after its principal owner, U.S. energy major Enron, and the Maharashtra government could not agree on a power purchase price. Enron, which has since declared bankruptcy, then pulled out of the venture and the issue went to court. At Tuesday's hearing, Dhabol's counsel P. Chidambaram contended that GE and Bechtel were not subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Attorney General Soli Sorabjee objected to this, saying: "India is not a banana republic. Somebody must accept the responsibility" (for the plant's closure and attempts to revive it). He pointed out that the Indian government had till now not been made a party to the case.
Source: IANS