The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday ordered issue of notice to the State government on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition which has claimed that Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) has failed to intimate the public in advance about the timings of load-shedding as was assured to the court four years ago.
A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B.V. Nagarathna passed the order while hearing the petition filed by city-based advocate G.R. Mohan.
He pointed out that the KPTCL in 2010-11 gave an undertaking to the court that power distribution companies would issue notification in local dailies about the hours of interruptions in power supply area-wise besides providing such details on the websites of the distribution companies. However, the petitioner claimed, the undertaking was not followed this year as the public were not notified about hours of load-shedding.
The petitioner also complained that every section of society is being affected because of “mismanagement and negligence” on the part of the State and its agencies which has resulted in shortage of power generation and supply. It was alleged in the petition that the KPTCL gave a “misleading statement” to the court in 2011 claiming that around 10,000 MW of power would be added to the State’s grid in “five years” through various sources but nothing much had been achieved so far.
