Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) The Delhi High Court was told Monday that the state cabinet has approved a proposal for the accounts of three power distribution companies, established in 2002, to be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

Counsel for Delhi government informed a bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw that the state cabinet has endorsed the suggestion of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to get accounts of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) and North Delhi Power Limited (NDPL) audited by the CAG.

The notification of the government said: “The cabinet approved infusion of equity in BSES group of companies to maintain 49 percent of share holding and enable availing of loan from IDBI (Bank)…The cabinet approved audit by CAG since inception.”

According to the DERC, the government is holding 49 percent share in all three discoms and has a responsibility to ensure that their accounts are reliable and acceptable to all stake holders.

“An audit by CAG will not only settle all issues but will give a reasonable assurance to the government on the share received/ receivable from the discoms,” DERC said.

The court had earlier asked power distributors to explain why their accounts should not be audited by the CAG while hearing a petition filed by the United RWAs Joint Action (URJA), which alleged that the state government succumbed to pressure of the discoms, which wanted a hike in power tariff by faking losses.

The petition said that under the pressure of discoms, the state government intervened in the functioning of the DERC which failed to fix the tariff for the year 2011-12.

The petitioner also sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the case.