Bhubaneswar, Oct 28 (PTI) The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) on Thursday ordered Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RIL) to pay dues of over Rs 4,000 crore accrued by its three power distributions companies (discoms), the licences of which were revoked six years ago.

In a petition to the OERC, GRIDCO - a state-run firm for transmission and bulk supply of electricity - had submitted that licences of the three discoms were revoked by the Commission in 2015 for violating licence conditions, shareholder agreements, the Electricity Act and other regulations.

Also Read | Shirur Vidhan Sabha Constituency in Maharashtra: Sitting MLA, Candidates For Assembly Elections 2019, Results And Winners.

GRIDCO, formerly Grid Corporation of Odisha, claimed that Rs 4,234 crore is recoverable from the RIL and the discoms.

The Anil Ambani-controlled RIL submitted that the discoms were separate legal entities and, therefore, any amount, if at all recoverable from them, cannot be recovered from the parent firm.

Also Read | Odisha BSE 10th Result 2019 Not Today: Class 10 Board Exam Scores to Be Declared Soon Online at bseodisha.ac.in; Here's List of Website to Check Marks.

“We hold that besides the three RIL-managed DISCOMs, (the) RIL itself is squarely liable for settling the above claim of the petitioner,” the OERC which is also the appellate tribunal for electricity in the state said after hearing both sides.

The Commission held that the liabilities accrued prior to revocation of licences was to be borne by the erstwhile licencee – the discoms - and in turn, their managing investor, which is the RIL.

Northern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (Nesco), Western Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (Wesco) and Southern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (Southco) were privatised through a bidding process and the BSES, whose successor is the RIL, took over their management in 1999 after being the successful bidder. A bulk supply agreement was executed between the GRIDCO and the discoms.

GRIDCO used to hold 49 per cent stake in the companies, while RIL owned 51 per cent share in these.

The RIL was expected to invest sufficient funds to improve performance of the discoms. But, it gradually diluted its shareholding to 0.002 per cent and the shares were transferred to companies that had no experience in the power sector, the OERC had said in its order cancelling the licence of RIL in 2015.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)