HC notice to Punjab on 24-hr free power to select agri consumers
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 6
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a notice of motion to the State of Punjab and others on a petition filed in public interest for quashing its action of providing 24-hour free and unmetered electricity to selected agricultural tubewells on the ground of it being arbitrary and environmentally unsustainable.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal fixed September 30 as the next date of hearing on the petition filed by Balraj Singh Sandhu of Patti tehsil in Tarn Taran district.
Petitioner’s counsel Gurnoor S Sandhu submitted that the provision of free electricity had been implemented without any formal policy, leading to overexploitation of groundwater resources. A response to an RTI plea revealed that 300 agricultural connections in Patti were receiving 24-hour unmetered electricity. Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), however, cited opposition from consumers and farmers for its inability to disconnect these connections.
The petition also highlighted the severe environmental repercussions of the practice. A government notification issued on January 27, 2023, under the Punjab Water Resources (Management and Regulation) Act, 2020, categorised the Patti area as having a groundwater extraction rate of 236 per cent, placing it in the “overexploited (200 per cent and above)” category. The Central Ground Water Board’s report for 2023 also marked 117 out of 153 assessment units in Punjab as overexploited.
The petitioner argued that the state’s inaction and failure to adhere to its policy of providing only eight-hour free electricity for irrigation during the paddy season was illegal and posed a significant threat to Punjab’s groundwater resources. The petition, as such, sought the court’s intervention to direct the state to disconnect all such unauthorised electricity connections immediately.
