The High Court of Karnataka has directed the State government to set up the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) under an independent entity within six weeks while pointing out that the State has not fulfilled this mandate of the Electricity Act, 2003, even after two decades since the law came into force.
As per the Section 31 (2) of the Act, the SLDC was supposed to be under the control of the State power utility only till a government company or any authority or corporation was established or constituted by or under any State Act, by the State government. However, the SLDC is continuing to operate under the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL), which is the State power transmission utility, even after lapse of 20 years, the court pointed out.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued the direction in a petition between the KPTCL and Shamanur Shugars Ltd. over the issue of jurisdiction of the SLDC, Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) over inter-State and intra-State disputes on power distribution and transmission.
“The SLDC being authorised to issue directions for compliances in terms of Section 33 of the Act, I am of the considered opinion that there is a possibility of the transmission utility using the powers under Section 33 of the Act in order to achieve its own purposes. There being conflict, the mandate under sub-section (2) of Section 31 of the Act is required to be followed by establishing the SLDC under a separate government company or authority or corporation,” the court observed.
The court said the SLDC was not being authorised to issue any directions as regards inter-State transmission issues. Also, the court said the disputes between the parties relating to inter-State generation, transmission, and distribution come under the jurisdiction of only the CERC, which has the power to decide the matter and not the KERC, which can adjudicate only when these disputes are intra-State.
