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MSEB pays April bill, files caveat against DPC

The Maharashtra State Electricity Board has paid its April bill for the power purchased from the Dabhol Power Company.

MSEB also filed a caveat in the Bombay high court to restrain Enron-promoted DPC from operating escrow account for the second-phase power generation, part of which is scheduled to commence from June, this year.

A cheque for Rs 1.368 billion was deposited directly in the DPC account on Friday after DPC officials refused to accept it saying a reply was needed first to the MSEB notice served on May 24 seeking termination of the power purchase agreement. Friday was the last date for the payment of the bill.

''To avoid being a defaulter, MSEB directly deposited the cheque in the DPC account,'' MSEB sources said.

The MSEB would continue to pay the monthly bills 'in protest' as the DPC had failed to pay Rs 4.01 billion demanded by the former for 'misdeclaration and default' on power supplied on January 28, they said.

The state electricity board is also planning to demand another Rs 4 billion as default charges from the DPC for the power on February 13 and March 29, as per the PPA. The board has also filed a petition before the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking its intervention into the matter.

The DPC has filed a suit in the International court of Arbitration in London against the non-payment of the December and January bills by the MSEB.

The Maharashtra government had appointed a 're-negotiation' committee under the chairmanship of former bureaucrat Madhav Godbole, nearly a month ago.

The meeting of the committee will be held on May 29 at 1100 hrs at MSEB office in Bombay.

MSEB files caveat against DPC in Bombay HC

The Maharashtra State Electricity Board filed a caveat in the Bombay high court to restrain Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company from operating escrow account.

Confirmingthe move, top MSEB official said that the board filed a caveat in the Bombay high court.

According to him, filing the caveat is a precautionary measure as the board does not want to take any chances on the escrow account being operated by DPC for the second-phase power generation.

DPC had issued a notice last week to the MSEB asking why should it not operate the escrow account to recover the monthly bills and other claims from them.

The board has already filed a petition before the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission on Friday and simultaneously moved the Bombay high court seeking its intervention in the escrow account.

The court's intervention will prohibit DPC from claiming any charges without court's permission, officials said.

UNI

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