Reflexes :
- The Bombay HC had suspended the privatization process, following a public interest request.
- For Torrent Power, which is already a key problem in neighboring Gujarat, obtaining these licenses makes perfect sense.
Torrent Power NSE has revealed that the Supreme Court has suspended an order from the Bombay High Court that imposed the suspension of the bidding process for the power distribution business at Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
The company was found to be the higher Tenderer in the tender for a 51% stake in the capital stock of the electricity interruptions of the Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu union territories.
The utility company Torrent Power is one of the largest private sector electric companies with interests in the generation, transmission, distribution and manufacture and supply of electric cables. It has an aggregate generation capacity of 3,879 MW, with a combination of coal-fired, gas-fired and renewable power plants.
The company has a strong presence in the Gujarat power distribution scene and supplies electricity to billions of customers annually in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Dahej SEZ and Dholera SIR in Gujarat. In 1997, Torrent Power fully acquired Ahmedabad Electricity Company by purchasing the entire 28.89% stake from the Gujarat government. The Surat Electricity Company was also purchased in the same deal. Torrent Power's dominance among Gujarat well explains its desire to expand and retain control in the neighboring areas of Dara & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
Last year, the central government presented a proposal to privatize the DISCOMs in the union territories, the latter under the administration of the union government. The TUs include the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Ladakh and Puducherry.
In December last year, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu had launched tenders to acquire a 51% stake in their DISCOM, which is responsible for the distribution and retail supply of electricity. An auction was held in March this year, in which Torrent Power emerged as the highest bidder to acquire the DISCOM in the union territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Under the agreement, Torrent Power would distribute almost 25 UB of energy to more than 3.8 million customers and serve a maximum demand of more than 5,000 MW.
On March 4, 2021, the Mumbai High Court suspended the bidding process in a public interest litigation, filed against the privatization of DISCOM, until new orders are issued in the matter.
"The Supreme Court of India, among other things, has granted the stay of operation of the contested provisional order of the Mumbai High Court suspending the bidding process of the aforementioned offer and listing the matter for hearing before the Court Supreme of India, "said Torrent Power. now he said.
In January of this year, Tata Power took over Western Electricity Supply Company from Odisha and South Odisha Electricity Supply Company.
The grand prize among the problems, namely the BSES networks in Delhi, was also up for grabs last year until the Delhi High Court halted the process to protect the interests of one of the creditors of Reliance Infrastructure, owner of BSES.
