Maharashtra government will appeal to the Supreme Court to seek more time for submitting its affidavit about the names of officers who handled matters related to the Enron-Dabhol deal.
The government is also supposed to submit a list of members of a high-level committee chaired by former bureaucrat Madhav Godbole. The panel had analysed the power purchase agreement between Dabhol Power Corporation (DPC, now Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt Ltd, or RGPPL), and related documents.
The matter, which came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, will be heard on Thursday.
A state energy department officer told DNA, "We have sought from various departments and the former Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) the names of officers involved in the planning to commission the Enron-Dabhol project. We are also seeking a list of officers involved after the project was dumped and revived in 1996, and again in 2006 after the transfer of assets to RGPPL.''
The officer said some of the officials are no more alive, while others have settled in different parts of the country, so time is required to compile their names.
The Supreme Court had declined on February 14 to entertain the state's request for closing an appeal filed by the Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU) in 1997, alleging corruption through kickbacks to politicians and bureaucrats in the setting up of the Enron-promoted Dabhol power plant in the state.
Instead, the court asked the state to submit names of the members of Godbole committee, which had submitted its report in 2001 to the state. The panel had former home secretary Madhav Godbole, ex-power secretary EAS Sarma, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, economist Kirit Parikh, environment expert RK Pachauri and ex-state energy secretary VM Lal.
The $3-bn mega power project was set up in the state by US-based Enron and its associates Dabhol Power Corporation in 1996 after signing of a PPA with state electricity board (MSEB) in 1993.