Default in Subsidy Payment
Plea to levy full power tariff on farm connections
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 14
A petition filed before the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) today said directions were required to be issued by the commission to the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) for levying full tariff on agricultural connections in case of “proven and prolonged” default on behalf of the Punjab Government in advance payment of subsidy.

The petition, filed by former engineer Gurnek Singh Brar, claimed that according to information obtained under the RTI Act as on November 25 by him, the state government had not made the advance payment of subsidy to the PSEB for the month of October and November. The PSERC had in its tariff order allowed the board to pay advance payment to the board every month.

Brar claimed the government had earlier also failed to make advance payment of subsidy to the PSEB as stipulated by the regulatory commission in 2008-09.

The petition said provisions of Section 65 of the Electricity Act, 2003, made it mandatory for the commission to issue orders for levying of full unsubsidised tariff in the event of default in payment of advance subsidy or default in payment of subsidy in the manner prescribed by the commission.

It said the PSERC Conduct of Business Regulations, 2005, contained a specific provision as para 53(4) stating “no direction of the state government granting subsidy shall be operative if the payment is not made by the state government in accordance with provisions of Section 65 of the Act”.

In the present case, the petition said, the default in advance payment had been persisting since March, 2008. According to information obtained under the RTI act, the government had defaulted in the payment of advance subsidy of Rs 77 crore in September, Rs 186 crore in October, and Rs 294 crore in November. It said no advance subsidy had been paid to the board for the month of November.

Brar claimed in his petition that over and above the default in advance payment of subsidy, there had been an even more serious default of under payment of subsidy, which had accumulated to Rs 558 crore for the period from September 9 to November 25.