Will take legal action on Himachal Bhavan attachment order: CM
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said the Himachal Government will take appropriate legal action on the orders of the High Court in respect of attachment of Himachal Bhawan, New Delhi.
Talking to media persons here today, the Chief Minister said the government would pursue this case vigorously to protect the interests of the state. A seemingly unhappy Sukhu even stated that like the state government, the judiciary too should act as custodian of properties of Himachal Pradesh.
Sharing the details of the case leading to the court order of attaching Himachal Bhawan located in New Delhi on the failure of the state government to refund Rs 64 crore paid as upfront premium to a hydel power company, he said this was not a big amount but the government is fighting the case on legal grounds.
Sukhu said the project was awarded to the company in 2009 and according to the then power policy, there was no provision to refund the upfront premium on grounds of the project financially unviable, irrespective of whether the project is set up or not. “During the competitive bidding, M/s Moser Bear quoted Rs 20 lakh per MW reserve price and deposited an upfront premium of Rs 64 crore,” he said.
The Chief Minister revealed that in 2017 the company surrendered the project on grounds of it being financially unviable and the government cancelled the allotment as per the policy and forfeited the upfront premium.
He lashed out at Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur saying that he was sensationalising the whole issue and blowing it out of proportion. “The BJP regime headed by Jai Ram Thakur had agreed to pay the Rs 280 crore award of the Arbitrator in the Brakel case, along with interest to the company. His government did not go into appeal against the Arbitrator’s award and it is our government which challenged it and finally the High Court order went in favour of Himachal government,” he said.
He said the previous BJP regime was willing to pay Rs 280 crore to Brakel without contesting the award of the Arbitrator, which only showed that they were willing to compromise on the state’s interest. “As Chief Minister, you failed to protect the interests of the state and did not hesitate to auction the resources by announcing freebies worth Rs 5,000 crore before the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections,” he said.
