KSEB to move Supreme Court against HC ruling
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Indian Express, Kochi

The KSEB will shortly file a Special Leave Petition before the apex court.
The venue of the tiff between the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and self-financing colleges over electricity tariff is shifting to the Supreme Court. The KSEB is moving the apex court against a recent Kerala High Court ruling that the self-financing colleges should be billed on par with the Government and aided educational institutions.

In the meantime, the Board has directed its officers to bill the colleges under the LT VI (A) tariff - the same under which the Government and aided institutions are billed - as ordered by the High Court. This is in response to a Contempt of Court petition filed by the colleges charging the KSEB with ignoring the High Court order passed a few months ago, sources said.

A KSEB notification on the matter dated November 7 has also expressly asked its officers to state in the bill that “the bill amount will be subject to the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.” KSEB secretary G Sreekumaran confirmed that the KSEB was planning to challenge the Kerala High Court ruling in the Supreme Court.

The Board will have to shoulder a huge liability if it was to bill self-financing colleges on par with the Government and aided educational institutions, the KSEB officials said. Power consumption by these colleges, they said, was considerably higher compared to the Government and aided institutions.

The KSEB will shortly file a Special Leave Petition before the apex court.

The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission had ordered that the colleges should be billed under the LT VII (A) tariff, the commercial category. This was challenged by the colleges in the High Court calling the decision discriminatory.

The Court set aside the Regulatory Commission’s classification, directing the KSEB to bill the colleges under the LT VI (A) tariff, on par with the Government and aided institutions.