The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the additional power surrendered by the NCT of Delhi could not be allocated to Tamil Nadu without compromising the grid security as the critical transmission elements in the North-South corridor of the southern region were fully utilised.
In its counter to the suit filed by Tamil Nadu, the Centre said “this is based on the Total Transfer Capability and ATC of the inter-regional links as well as the north to south corridor within the southern region.” A Bench Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice J. Chelameswar adjourned the hearing to December 4 to enable Tamil Nadu to file its rejoinder.
On the contention that the surrendered power should be allocated exclusively to Tamil Nadu, the Centre said requests for allocation of this surrendered power were received from various power utilities, viz Assam; Tamil Nadu; Uttar Pradesh; Kerala; Andhra Pradesh; Karnataka; Rajasthan; Dadra and Nagar Haveli and they had to be heard before any order was passed by the court.
It said “the northern, eastern, western and north-eastern regional grids are connected through Alternating Current (AC) transmission line forming a synchronous new grid, while the southern regional grid is asynchronously connected to the new grid through High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) links. A.P., Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have got allocation of 3,535 MW, 1,774 MW, 1670 MW, 3396 MW, and 505 MW respectively from the Central generating stations including stations during peak hours of the day. Thus Tamil Nadu is already the second highest beneficiary of central sector power among the southern States as on October 31, 2012”. The Centre sought dismissal of the suit.
It also blamed Tamil Nadu for the power crisis it is facing as it had not strengthened the grid for receiving surplus power.
The Southern Grid did not have the capacity to receive the available surplus power. The Tamil Nadu government had not strengthened enough the grid and the State itself was responsible for the power crisis. Eight States were demanding a share in the surrendered power and we will distribute it in a manner that each grid can withstand.
The State in its suit said “it is the right of Tamil Nadu to demand for the surrendered power to meet the extreme power shortage faced by the State. Only the Union of India is empowered to reallocate the surrendered power along with the transmission corridor which it has failed to do so.” It said “in 2012-13, due to failure of southwest monsoon, the State is facing acute shortage of power. The people of Tamil Nadu are reeling under the massive power cuts going up to 12 hours every day.
It said “Tamil Nadu apprehends that the Central government will reallocate the surrendered power to the other States which are not as stressed as Tamil Nadu is and thereby deprive the State of its justified demand of reallocation of the entire power surrendered by the NCT of Delhi.”
