A public interest litigation (PIL) petition, which has accused several power generation companies of charging unjustifiably high tariff from consumers, and of cheating banks and their shareholders, was heard by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday. A two-judge Bench has adjourned the case to October 25.
The plea, filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation and Common Cause, has sought the appointment of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the entire gamut of alleged corruption around import of power equipment and coal. Among the companies named in the PIL petition are Adani group and Essar.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioners, said there were four alleged victims of the fraud: electricity consumers, banks, shareholders of those companies and the government that is cheated of its legitimate share of tax.
“The companies are inflating cost of both equipment and coal and have thus burdened millions of electricity consumers with higher tariff. Secondly, they are taking loans from banks on the basis of this inflated cost, and many of it is ending up as NPAs. Finally, they are cheating their shareholders because they are siphoning out money from shareholders to promoters,” Mr. Bhushan told The Hindu.
Written note
The court asked the petitioners to file a written note detailing the various show-cause notices issued by the DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) and their status.