New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) The Supreme Court Tuesday asked private power distribution companies (Discoms) in Delhi to furnish details of the number of connections provided by them and the total energy supplied to consumers.
An apex court bench of Justice D.K. Jain and Justice A.K. Ganguly issued the direction after court-appointed lawyer Ranjit Kumar said that the Delhi government’s claim that there was surplus power in the city was hard to digest.
The Discoms were also asked to explain why they were supplying power to more than 1,400 unauthorised colonies and slums.
The court directed the Discoms to state the number of commercial connections they had given for the illumination of advertising hoardings and display panels at bus stops.
The companies were also asked to indicate the percentage of total power being consumed by these commercial connections. The court’s direction came during the hearing on a public suit related to Delhi’s power situation.
As Ranjit Kumar sought the court’s direction to know the percentage of power loss on account of tapping or unmetered consumption, the court said the prevention of this was one reason for privatising power distribution in the capital.
The judges were unconvinced when told that a number of hoardings in the city were solar powered. Justice Jain pointed out that he had not seen solar panels on any hoardings.
The court was also told that there were just three hoardings in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area which were powered by generators.
The judges were told that all the hoardings in NDMC area were on railway land and the civic agency had no jurisdiction over them.
The matter would next be heard Sep 20.
