MSEDCL restores power to more essential utilities in Lavasa
The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) informed the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday that it will restore power supply for essential services at Lavasa hill city near Pune
The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) informed the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday that it will restore power supply for essential services at Lavasa hill city near Pune.
The Lavasa Corporation Limited owes ₹22 crore in dues, due to which the power utility had cut off its power supply on September 17. Last week, MSEDCL had restored power supply to a set of essential services in Lavasa city, which included the town hall and the sewage and water treatment plants.
MSEDCL’s submission on Monday means that electricity supply will be resume for the street lights, the public safety centre and at Portofino, a common area that overlooks the backwaters of the Warasgaon dam.
The SC is hearing a plea filed by the resolution professional for Lavasa (a court-appointed mediator) after the power utility cut off power supply on 113 lines, disrupting essential services in the hill city.
The bench of justice AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha stated in its order: “Learned senior counsel for the respondent (MSEDCL) would point out that without going into the details of the merits of matter the respondent is also agreeable to restore the power connection in respect of certain other essential services which have been identified by them.”
The SC order further stated that power utility can extend its services without any specific order from the court.
“In the meantime, notwithstanding the pendency of this appeal and the interim orders passed herein if any further negotiations are to be held between the appellant and the respondent by which the respondent would be inclined to restore power to few more of the utilities, it would be open to them to be done without any specific orders from this court. In addition, the pendency of this appeal shall also not come in the way of the NCLT in proceeding further with the matter and in any event interest of the respondent shall also be taken into consideration by the NCLT in that regard,” the order stated, listing the matter after four weeks.
The MSEDCL authorities cut power supply to the hill city after an order from the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on September 2 which allowed them to terminate or suspend supply for non-payment of dues.
The Lavasa Hill City project, planned by Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), was admitted for insolvency by the NCLAT in August 2018. Mumbai-based Darwin Platform Infrastructure Ltd (DPIL) won the bid for Lavasa city in December 2021. Its ₹1,814-crore bid to take over the privately-built smart city project by Lavasa Corporation was approved by the committee of creditors (CoC) and beat the closest competing offer of ₹1,223.07 crore.
