A plea by a Reliance Power Ltd’s(RPower) subsidiary against the Andhra Pradesh government’s notice for revoking its power purchase contract with it and encash its Rs 300 crore bank guarantee as penalty for delay in executing Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project will be heard by a new bench of the Delhi High Court tomorrow.
A day after a judge recused himself from hearing the plea, it was placed before Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri, who decided to hear the matter himself along with Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw.
The bench said it will commence tomorrow the final hearing of the appeal by RPower subsidiary Coastal Andhra Power Ltd (CAPL) against the single-judge bench’s order, which lifted the stay on encashing the bank guarantee.
Justice Manmohan Singh, who was sitting in the bench headed by Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, had yesterday recused from hearing the CAPL’s petition saying that earlier he had opted against hearing a similar matter involving other firms.
The appeal had come up for hearing before a division bench on July 3, when the state-run Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Ltd (APSPDCL) had assured the court that it would not encash the CAPL’s bank guarantee worth Rs 300 crore for the alleged dealy in executing power project.
The appeal was filed a day after the single bench had dismissed CAPL’s petition against the notice served by APSPDCL due to delay in executing the project.
“The statement of learned counsel for respondents (APSPDCL) is taken on record that the respondents would not insist upon the bank which has issued the bank guarantee to remit the payment under the bank guarantee,” the bench had noted in its July 3 order.
Meanwhile, the RPower, in a statement, had said “the company has already sought arbitration as per the provisions of the Power Purchase Agreement against the eleven procurers in four states”.
