VIJAYAWADA: Purchase pacts between discoms in Andhra Pradesh and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the PSU at the heart of the controversy surrounding a supply deal with a Gautam Adani-owned company, had been disputed by the then opposition Telugu Desam Party and CPI from the start.
Andhra current CM N Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and other opposition parties had opposed what they said were unilateral purchase agreements signed by discoms in 2021 without any negotiations with SECI.
They challenged the purchase agreements in court, alleging solar power was being purchased at a higher price than prevailing market rate.
Current state finance minister Payyavula Keshav, who was then assembly's Public Affairs Committee chairperson, and CPI state secretary K Ramakrishna filed PILs separately in high court in 2022. Both petitions are pending.
Ramakrishna's PIL came after the cabinet approved the proposal to purchase solar power at Rs 2.49 a unit. He contended that the process adopted by the then YSRCP govt in Andhra Pradesh was in violation of the Electricity Act, 2003, and would result in losses to the exchequer.
Keshav filed a petition soon after on the same grounds, arguing that the state govt was paying Rs 2.49 per unit for solar power when it was available for Rs 1.99 a unit in the open market.
HC issued notices to the discoms and the state and Union govts to file their responses. A batch of interlocutory petitions then took Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) to court for approving the discoms' proposal to procure solar power at a price allegedly higher than the market rate.
The state govt argued that approval was given based on pricing decided by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
The high court asked the respondents to file fresh responses, but declined to grant a stay on the agreements. The HC subsequently asked the discoms to obtain a fresh approval based on the stipulated procedure by conducting a public hearing on tariff determination.
The petitions filed by the discoms before APERC are still pending. In recent orders passed in March, the high court asked APERC to expedite the hearing of the petitions filed by the discoms.
Ramakrishna told TOI that since bribery and corruption charges had now been levelled, a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge should be instituted into the SECI deal. He also demanded the cancellation of all agreements with the Adani Group. Till late on Thursday, TDP hadn't responded to the developments emerging from a US court's indictment of the industrialist.