HC order on Himachal Bhawan: Sukhu on backfoot as BJP guns for Congress govt

The Himachal Pradesh high court order on Monday to attach Himachal Bhawan in Delhi after the government failed to pay ₹64 crore due to a power company has left chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on the backfoot, while the opposition BJP has accused him of destroying the state.
The court has also ordered the principal secretary of the electricity department to conduct a fact-finding investigation into the matter, so that the responsibility of those officers whose negligence led to this situation can be fixed. The matter was raised in the context of the 400-MW Seli Hydro Project to be built on the Chenab river in Lahaul-Spiti. Already in the arbitration, the state government had received an order to return the upfront money of ₹64 crore deposited by the company with 7% interest. However, because of the government disregarding the order, the amount along with interest reached around ₹150 crore.
The court had warned that the government would have to suffer the consequences if the amount was not deposited. The court clarified that this amount is going from the state treasury, the loss of which will have to be borne by the public. Therefore, the company has been allowed to recover its money by auctioning Himachal Bhawan.
Yet to read court order: CM
Speaking to reporters, Sukhu said, “I have not read the high court order but the upfront premium is based on a policy under which when the energy policy was made in 2006, I was the main architect. We had kept a reserve price per megawatt on which the companies had bid. There was a decision made by arbitration in the matter of upfront premium…Our govt went to the high court against the arbitration order and the government had to deposit ₹64 crore in arbitration. I have taken information regarding the same and we will study about this type of order.”
Himachal Pradesh advocate general Anup Kumar Rattan termed the high court order as normal routine process and added that it became news because the court mentioned the possibility of auctioning the Bhawan. Speaking to ANI, state advocate general Rattan said, “This order of the high court has come in an execution petition in which Seli Hydropower has filed an execution that the order given in their favour by the single judge should be returned the upfront premium of ₹64 crore because the government has not deposited that money in the appellate court. Therefore, this order has been given by the executing court in a normal routine process. But this is becoming news because the court has said about auctioning Himachal Bhawan and that this property can also be attached.”
BJP blames Rahul Gandhi’s ‘khatakhat’ politics
Former chief minister and BJP leader Jairam Thakur accused the Sukhu-led Congress government of destroying the state. “The present government has destroyed Himachal Pradesh and the way the investment that was going to come in the hydro sector in the name of the new policy and the people who were working in the project, all of them are unhappy with the Himachal Pradesh government and are leaving. Whatever projects we have with the Government of India, whether it is with SJVN, NTPC or NHPC, the agreements that we had made with them in the past, have also been questioned.”
Thakur said, “Firstly, the government is not taking the court cases seriously and one after the other decisions are being taken in Himachal Pradesh due to which the government is getting embarrassed. It is a period of financial crisis, it has been there for many years but because of this, the whole of Himachal Pradesh is now worried that if Himachal Bhawan is auctioned, then in the coming time, the situation will be such that the secretariat may be auctioned,”
Delhi-based BJP spokespersons Pradeep Bhandari and Shehzad Poonawalla said on Tuesday that due to the “khatakhat” politics and economics of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi that the Himachal government has not been able to pay the due amount. Speaking to ANI, Bhandari said, “This proves that there is only a mess within the ‘khatakhat’ economy of Rahul Gandhi…Due to Rahul Gandhi’s economics, there are no funds within Himachal Pradesh to pay the chief secretary. Due to his economics, Himachal Bhawan is about to be auctioned. Due to his ‘khatakhat’ economics, power charges have gone due to milk cess. The chief minister was busy finding out who ate his ‘samosa.”
“Due to this ‘khatakhat’ economics, the country had reached Fragile Five when there was a Congress government in power. I would like to tell Rahul Gandhi, to set aside childishness and have some discretion. Due to you, this Himachal Bhawan is about to be auctioned off. Stop fooling people,” he added. With ANI inputs