New Delhi, Nov 17: In a significant order, the Supreme Court today sought the response of key shareholders in Dabhol Power Corporation -- subsidiaries of GE and Bechtel -- on restarting the litigation-embroiled plant which has been lying idle for last 24 months after Enron withdrew from the project. A bench comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice B N Agrawal gave two weeks time to the counsel for GE subsidiary capital India power Mauritius and Bechtel subsidiary energy enterprise to let the court know about their response to the plant going back to the business of generating power.

Observing that "prima facie we are also of the opinion that it is in everybody's interest that the plant starts functioning again", the bench said it would consider the issue of fixing the interim tariff at which MSEB should buy power from DPC. Appearing for DPC, senior advocate P Chidambaram objected to MSEB's decision to approach MERC on fixation of interim tariff saying the apex court had passed a consent order that none of the parties would approach either the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) or the tribunal on their dispute over the power purchase agreement (PPA).

However, senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for the financial institutions led by IDBI contended that they were interested in getting the plant back on its feet as they wanted to recover their investment which was to the tune of 85 per cent of the total cost of the project.

Bureau Report