The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asserted that the Chandigarh administration’s proposed action of electricity privatisation is in direct conflict with the nation's agenda ‘Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas’.
Hearing a petition on May 28 of U.T. Powermen Union, Chandigarh, which has challenged the decision of the privatisation of electricity in Chandigarh, Justices Jitendra Chauhan and Vivek Puri observed “..The proposed action of privatisation is in direct conflict with the nation's agenda ‘Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas’. We feel that privatisation is not a panacea for all the ills and privatisation with blind motive of so-called efficiency falls flat as this department is not only a profitable one but also time and again matched the high standards of customers' satisfaction and has a big role in maintaining the City Beautiful.”
“With great pain and anguish, it is recorded that we are unable to reconcile with the fact that when the whole world is grappling with the deadly virus, when there is no oxygen, no ICUs, a long queue at the cremation grounds and no place in the hospitals, the undue hurry on the part of the administration to hand over the profit-making department to the private entity at this stage of the history and in this situation of crisis faced by the entire mankind, seems to be misplaced,” added the judges.
The petitioner had made a submission for stopping further proceedings with regard to the privatisation, including the opening and finalisation of the tender bids till the final adjudication of the writ petition.
Directing the proposed action of electricity privatisation in abeyance, the court in its observation said: “From the pleadings and the arguments raised by learned counsel for the parties, it is not clear as to what was the intended purpose of setting up the Engineering Wing, UT Chandigarh, and as to whether the Engineering Wing has failed to achieve the same. This is the positive case of the petitioner that when the department is a profit-making organisation, therefore, it is not covered under the scheme 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' or 'Self -Reliant India Mission'. There is no effective assistance by learned counsel for the parties on this aspect of the matter. The Engineering Wing of the UT Administration is akin to Public Sector Undertakings, which were created by the Government of India to make a self-sufficient nation and to become the master of our own destiny. While inaugurating the Bhakhra Nangal Dam in October, 1963, Prime Minister Nehru christened it as ‘the temple of modern India’. The philosophy behind establishing the same was to end India's dependence on the rest of the world.”
“If the argument on behalf of the respondents is to make India ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, we are at a loss to understand that what can be more ‘Atmanirbhar’ than an institution made in India, by Indians, operationalised by Indians, creating jobs for Indians and enriching the Indian State with its profits. We also feel that the idea establishing such wings is an egalitarian one with the aim to include those sections of society that need a helping hand. The philosophy of inclusion, as envisaged by Dr. Ambedkar in the Preamble, also included the concept of ‘Economic Justice’. To achieve this ideal of the Constitution as wished about by one of the greatest makers of this country, especially in such precarious times that we live in, it becomes imperative upon the administration to safeguard such institutions that protect the security of the livelihood. They provide a security net for society to fall back upon, for the poorest of the poor to dream of a better future, for the person at the end of the line to be aspirational so that he too can be part of the Indian dream. All this indicates a social motive and not a profit motive.”
