Courts across Andhra Pradesh will go green soon, with the deployment of energy efficient appliances. The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad has entered into an agreement with the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) of the Union Ministry of Power for retrofitting court buildings across the State with energy efficient appliances. The retrofitting agreement comes without any cost to the judiciary as the EESL would initially bear the cost of the appliances that would be recovered proportionately from the energy savings achieved.
EESL managing director Saurabh Kumar and High Court registrar general Ch. Manavendranath Roy signed the agreement in the presence of AP Electricity Regulatory Commission chairman Justice G. Bhavani Prasad here on Friday. As part of the agreement, the EESL will take up retrofitting of the court buildings in court complexes in 12 districts of Andhra Pradesh with an estimated cost of ₹6.89 crore. Retrofitting for the court complex at Visakhapatnam would be done free of cost by the Central government organisation in view of the financial situation in the State. The EESL would be paid around ₹1.5 crore towards its cost of installation of the energy efficiency infrastructure in the judicial buildings.
Justice Bhavani Prasad said this was the first of its kind initiative by judiciary in the country and the APERC played a crucial role in convincing the judiciary for opting for energy efficient appliances. He described the development as a good beginning and said courts across Andhra Pradesh would soon become energy efficient leading the way for others. Mr. Saurabh Kumar welcomed the initiative of AP judiciary in picking up the theme of sustainability. The EESL was committed to complete the installation of the appliances in a time-bound manner, probably in two months. Replying to queries, he said the EESL had made an assessment of energy consumption by these buildings which was close to 4.8 million units entailing a bill of ₹4.4 crore annually.
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AP State Energy Conservation Mission CEO A. Chandrasekhar Reddy, APERC member P. Ramamohan and High Court of Judicature Registrar (administration) D. Nagarjun were present.