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SC disposes of petitions on Enron, MSEB spat

The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of pending petitions pertaining to the disputes between cash strapped US multinational Enron promoted Dabhol Power Corporation and Maharashtra Electricity Board.

By consent of both the parties to the litigation, a bench comprising Chief Justice S P Bharucha, Justice S V Patil and Justice B P Singh disposed of the petitions while keeping open "all questions regarding enforcing the Letter of Credit No.39 of 1999".

The Bench said after the disposal of the writ petition filed before the Bombay high court regarding the jurisdiction of Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission, the parties were free to adopt appropriate proceedings and such proceedings, if instituted, would be decided on merit uninfluenced by the Court's observations.

The above-mentioned Letter of Credit "shall not be enforced until after six weeks of the disposal of the writ petition by the high court", the Bench said.

The Bench also made it clear that while passing this order, it was not expressing any opinion whatsoever on the merits of the case.

The Bombay high court would pronounce its verdict on March 5 on a petition moved by DPC challenging powers of Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission to adjudicate its dispute with MSEB.

While MSEB said MERC had powers to regulate power purchase agreement as well as adjudicate DPC's dispute with MSEB over non-payment of dues, DPC argued that while the MERC Act came into existence in 1998, and the PPA between DPC and MSEB was signed in 1993, MERC had no jurisdiction over the dispute.

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