Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Sept 20: As the Jammu and Kashmir Government has taken refuge under Article 370 of the Constitution of India in order to ignore the repeated directions regarding opening of Letter of Credit in accordance with Unscheduled Interchanges and Related Matters Regulations-2009, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has hinted at denying short-term open access to the State under the relevant regulations.
Under the short-term open access, any State can get power beyond the allocated share to meet any emergent situation and denial of this access would land Jammu and Kashmir in a major crisis as our State very often requires additional power particularly whenever there is shut down of Salal Power Station.
In response to the directions of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) dated August 13, 2013, Advocate Suhail Malik, Counsel for the Secretary of Power Development Department of J&K submitted on the affidavit that State of Jammu and Kashmir enjoys a special status under Article 370 of the Constitution of India.
“The legislations enacted by the Parliament of India don’t extend to the State of J&K unless the President of India in consultation with the Government of J&K declares them applicable in the State”, Secretary J&K PDD said in the reply. He further submitted that Section 1(2) of the Electricity Act, 2003 provides that the Act extends to the whole of India except the State of J&K therefore the orders passed by the Commission are persuasive and not mandatory in nature.
The Counsel further submitted that even in the absence of the legislative mandate, PDD has initiated the process of consultation with Finance and Law Departments of Jammu and Kashmir. He claimed that J&K was paying the Unscheduled Interchanges charges regularly.
However, the stand of J&K PDD Secretary was contradicted by the representative of the Northern Region Load Dispatch Centre, who clarified that J&K is not paying the UI charges since January 2013.
After going through the reply submitted by the counsel for the J&K PDD and its Secretary, the Commission observed, “for non-compliance of the regulations and directions of the Commission, the possibility of denial of short-term open access under the relevant regulations should be explored”.
On this, counsel for the respondents (J&K PDD and its Secretary) sought time to seek instructions and file submission in the matter. “The counsel is at liberty to file his submission”, the Commission said while reserving order in the petition.
According to the sources, Jammu and Kashmir would land in major trouble in case CERC denies short-term open access under the relevant regulations as in the absence of short-term open access State cannot take additional power from other constituents of Northern Grid and it will have to depend only on the allocated share, which is inadequate to meet the requirement.
As per Clause (4) of the Regulation 10 of Unscheduled Interchange Charges and Related Matters, Regulations, 2009 of CERC, all the regional entities, which had any time during the previous financial year failed to make payment of UI charges, are required to open a Letter of Credit equal to 110% of its average payable weekly UI liability in the previous financial year.
UI is a pool account and the States over-drawing from the grid in deviation of their schedule are required to pay the prescribed UI rates to the UI pool account and the States under-drawing from the grid or the generators, which have been injecting into the grid, shall get payment from the UI pool account at the prescribed rate.
Meanwhile, NHPC has filed petitions before the CERC seeking revision of tariff in respect of Dulhasti and Uri-I Projects.
The revision in tariff has been sought on the ground that there is significant difference between additional capital expenditure allowed and the actual capital expenditure incurred for the period—2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. However, the CERC has reserved its orders on both the petitions.
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