Court rejects Adani Ltd plea for refund
Shimla, July 18
The Himachal High Court today rejected the plea of M/S Adani Power Limited for the refund of Rs 280 crore with interest deposited as upfront money for the setting up of the Jangi Thopan hydel power project in Kinnaur district.
In the 52-page order by a Division Bench headed by Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Bipin Chander Negi, the court observed that the claim for refund by Adani Power on the basis of selective reading of notings on the files and by ignoring other relevant material on record is not sustainable. The court dismissed the claim of Adani for refund of the money.
The court said that it is a well-settled position of law that a note recorded on a file is merely a noting simpliciter. It merely represents an expression of opinion of a particular individual. It does not have any legal sanctity. The same cannot be relied upon. It cannot be treated as a decision of the government.
An earlier decision of the High Court on September 4, 2015 had ordered to refund the up-front premium without interest after receipt from Reliance. Adani moved court seeking refunding of Rs 280 crore along with interest, while the state government challenged the single judge order of granting Rs 280 crore, which was decided today. The issue of allotment of the projects and subsequent refund of the money has been in courts for more than the last two decades.
The controversy in the case pertains to two hydro-electric projects, namely, Jangi Thopan and Thopan Powari of 480 MW each. Himachal Pradesh had invited bids for the allotment of the project in October, 2005. Being the highest bidder, the Brakel Corporation was issued the letter of intent on December 1, 2006. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RIL) the other bidder offered to match the bid of Brakel Corporation.
Brakel accepted the letter of intent but failed to deposit the upfront premium. Following this, RIL wrote a letter on August 20, 2007 expressing its willingness to match the bid of Brakel.
The government issued show-cause notices to Brakel but after hearing the representatives of Brakel and Adani Power decided not to cancel the project.
