The high court has directed the Punjab chief secretary to file an affidavit regarding the financial position and proposed borrowings of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).
“In our view, the issue of maintainability can be gone into at an appropriate stage; but the facts prayed before the court are such that this court would require a reply from the respondents on merits,” it said, adding that these circumstances the chief secretary would file an affidavit “clarifying the factual assertions which are made in the present petition. ”
This PIL sought directions to the government to release the outstanding power subsidy to PSPCL in advance under Section 65 of the Electricity Act, 2003, particularly when the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has recorded a shortfall of ₹ 11,000 crore up to March 31 and assessed ₹ 26,000 crore payable during 2026-27, including the previous shortfall.
To repeated requests from the state that first PIL should be heard on maintainability and merits of the case should be gone into by the court only after that, the court asserted that the law is well settled that “this court in appropriate matters can take up the causes of public interest on its own”. “Though we find that the specific details with regard to earlier matters filed by the petitioner have not been disclosed but considering the issue, which is raised before us, we are prima facie of the view that the matter does raise issues of substantial public interest”, the court explained in its order.
