BackAAP-Reliance Infra defamation case adjourned to 10 March
The court has asked R-Infra to file an affidavit in the case
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Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Friday adjourned till 10 March the hearing of a defamation case filed by the Anil Ambani-controlled power utility Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (R-Infra) against the Aam Adami Party (AAP).
The court has asked R-Infra to file an affidavit in the case.
On Friday, Venkatesh Dhond, senior counsel representing R-Infra, said the charges levelled by the AAP against R-Infra were “ex-facie, false and defamatory".
Aspi Chinoy, senior counsel for the AAP, however, said the political party had based its comments on the investigation and order of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).
The high court suggested that the MERC should be made a party to the case.
R-Infra, Reliance Group’s power distribution company, filed a defamation suit against the AAP on 26 February after the party accused it of not passing on to consumers benefits accrued from the Maharashtra government, among other allegations.
The AAP in recent weeks has said R-Infra’s customers were paying higher tariffs because of mistakes made by the company. It had also claimed that despite having to meet a demand for 1,700-1,800 megawatts, R-Infra had long-term power purchase agreements for only 500MW with the rest being procured through short-term contracts that made power more expensive.
R-Infra has refuted the allegations. “We are surprised at the false and baseless allegations which have been made by AAP purely for political considerations," R-Infra had said in a statement earlier.
On 27 February, the AAP also accused Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd (Mahagenco) of being inefficient and corrupt that resulted in consumers having to pay excess tariff of ₹ 22,000 crore over the past three fiscal years.
The AAP’s Maharashtra unit convener Anjali Damania and executive committee member Satish Jain alleged that electricity tariffs could have been 50% below the current level if the state-run utility had been run efficiently.
The party accused Mahagenco of not lifting the full quota of coal allocated to it by Coal India Ltd, and deliberately importing coal at twice the cost. AAP leaders said Mahagenco was also “gold plating" its capital expenditure. Mahagenco has denied the allegations.
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