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Patna,(BiharTimes): A single bench of Justice Jyoti Sharan of the Patna High Court on Tuesday stayed the Bihar State Electricity Board’s decision to impose fuel surcharge on industrial consumers.
Responding to a set of seven writ petitions which challenge the imposition of the surcharge, the Court stayed the BSEB’s demand from industrial consumers.
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The Bihar Electricity Regulatory Authority (BERC) had submitted that it was scanning BSEB’s accounts for the year 2008-2009 relating to fuel surcharge demand from the industry.
BERC also submitted that it had yet to receive from the BSEB the records of the fuel surcharge demanded in the year 2009-10.
The PILs maintained that high fuel surcharge would sound death 0knell of the industries in the state.The writ petitions were filed by Shiva Polytubes, Bihar Industries Association, Patwari Udyog, Kalyanpur Cements and three other industrial units.
Justice Sharan passed the interim order of stay till BERC took a decision on the power board’s demands of fuel surcharge. However, BSEB defended the demand of fuel surcharge. Only on Monday Bihar Industries Association had sent a representation to the chief minister, deputy chief minister, energy minister, industries minister, chief secretary, development commissioner, and principal secretaries, energy and industry, charging both the BSEB and BERC with allegedly playing havoc with the financial viability of the industries by making a huge demand, running into crores, in the name of fuel surcharge.
comments...
We hope that this stay order would be equally applicable to the domestic consumers as well. The Bihar State Electricity Board which the CM recently called “a bottomless pit” has first to put its house in order and then justify its demand for Fuel Surcharge on the basis of hard and credible facts and figures. The BSEB has to tell Bihar citizens as to in how many states this kind of exorbitant surcharge is levied retrospectively and on what basis.
Ramadhar, Patna
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