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Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday said that the case concerning arbitration battle with a hydro electric company was a legal issue and and the state government will fight it in the court.
His remarks came amid reports that Himachal Pradesh High Court has ordered the attachment of Himachal Bhawan, the state's guesthouse, near Mandi House in the national capital over "unpaid dues" to Seli Hydro Electric Power Company. Sukhu said the property has not been attached. "This is a legal issue, we want to fight this battle. This power project was an upfront premium. In the case of Brakel, we have already won the case of upfront premium, in which the arbitration court had given Rs 280 crore, after that when we filed a writ, the High Court gave a decision in our favor. Similarly, we have gone to the High Court against the arbitration of Rs 64 crore given by the arbitration court.,"Sukhu told ANI. "This is a case of Jairam Thakur's (former Himachal CM and BJP leader) time. In his cabinet, he had given an arbitration award of Rs 280 crore to the Brakel company, which was wrong and after that, the High Court gave a decision in our favour because we had presented the facts. This is an arbitration battle," he added. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Advocate General Anup Kumar Rattan has termed the Himachal Pradesh High Court's order to attach Himachal Bhawan in Delhi as a normal routine process and added that it became news because the High Court mentioned the possibility of auctioning the Bhawan. "This order of the High Court has come in an execution petition in which Seli Hydropower has filed an execution that the order given in their favour by the single judge should be implemented ....the upfront premium of Rs 64 crore because the government has not deposited that money in the appellate court. Therefore, this order has been given by the Executing Court in a normal routine process. But this is becoming news because the High Court has said about auctioning Himachal Bhawan and that this property can also be attached." BJP leader Jairam Thakur on Tuesday criticized the Congress government led by Sukhwinder Sukhu and accused it of not protecting the interests of the state. "The present government has completely destroyed Himachal Pradesh and the way the investment that was going to come in the hydro sector in the name of the new policy and the people who were working in the project, all of them are unhappy with the Himachal Pradesh government and are leaving. Whatever projects we have with the Government of India, whether it is with SJVN, NTPC or NHPC, the agreements that we had made with them in the past, have also been questioned," he said. (ANI)
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