1. The Ministry of Power in its meeting of 12/05/2020 took the decision to privatise the electricity departments of union territories and set the deadlines for completing privatisation as 31/01/2021.

2. The standard bid documents (SBD) for privatisation exercise were not ready and draft SBD were issued as late as 20/09/2020 with the last date of submission of comments / objections as 05/10/220 (later extended to 13/10/2020).

3. So far the GOI has not finalized the draft SBD, even then UTs are being pressured to expedite the privatisation process.

 

4. In case of UT  Chandigarh the pre-bid conference / meeting was held on 01/12/2020, while the Punjab and Haryana High Court heard the petition of UT Powermen union, also on 01/12/2020 and issued a stay order.

 

5. The UT Administration appealed before the Supreme Court and the stay order of the High Court was vacated on 12/01/2021.

6. UT Administration resumed the sale of tender documents (RFP). However, the minutes of an earlier pre-bid meeting of 01/12/2020 were not issued.

 

7. On 19/1/2021 a meeting of the Empowered Committee of UT Administration was held wherein it was decided to hold a second pre-bid conference (meeting) on 22/01/2021.

 

8. However, 20/01/2021 was a holiday (Guru Gobind Singh Prakash Utsav). So on 21/01/2021 the public notice for the pre-bid meeting of 22 January was sent to only one news paper (Dainik Bhaskar, Hindi), and the public notice was printed on 22/01/2021 (Copy Enclosed).

 

9. The same day 22/01/2021 the second pre-bid meeting was held at Chandigarh. Majority of bidders were from cities outside Chandigarh, and yet they were able to participate in a second pre-bid meeting at less than one day's notice.

 

10. After the second pre-bid meeting of 22 January, a press note was given by UT Administration to Tribune Chandigarh and the same was carried (printed) in The Tribune of 23/01/2021.

The news item of Tribune 23/01/2021 gives the updated version of UT Administration Chandigarh after holding the second pre-bid meeting of 22/1/2021.

 The following statement of the UT Advisor is quoted from Tribune report.

 “More firms were expected to take part in the electricity distribution in the UT, he said, after presiding over a pre-bid meeting with representatives of the companies. The last date to submit the tender is February 8 and the bids are likely to be opened the same day”.

The report of Tribune, 23/01/2021 is as under.          

“18 firms show interest in Chandigarh power distribution

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

At least 18 firms have so far evinced interest in privatisation of the UT Electricity Department.

UT Adviser Manoj Parida said the Request for Proposal had so far been issued to 18 intended bidders, including Torrent Power Limited, Adani Transmission Limited, Tata Power Company Limited, GMR Generation Asset Limited, India Power Corporation Limited, DNH Power Distribution Corporation Limited, NTPC Electricity Supply Limited (NESCL), Sterlite Power and CESC Limited.

Request for Proposal

UT Adviser Manoj Parida says the Request for Proposal has so far been issued to 18 intended bidders, including

·         Torrent Power Limited

·         Adani Transmission Limited

·         Tata Power Company Limited

·         GMR Generation Asset Limited

·         India Power Corporation Ltd

·         DNH Power Distribution Corporation Limited

·         NTPC Electricity Supply Limited

·         Sterlite Power

·         CESC Limited

More firms were expected to take part in the electricity distribution in the UT, he said, after presiding over a pre-bid meeting with representatives of the companies. The last date to submit the tender is February 8 and the bids are likely to be opened the same day.

On November 9, 2020, the UT Engineering Department had invited bids for privatisation of the Electricity Department.

On January 12, the Supreme Court stayed the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. On January 14, the UT Administration resumed the sale of tender for the privatisation process.

On a petition filed by the UT Powermen Union, a Division Bench of the High Court had, on December 1, 2020, stayed the tendering process regarding privatisation of the Electricity Department of the UT Administration.

The petitioner had contended that they were aggrieved by the decision to privatise the electricity wing by selling 100 per cent stake of the government in the absence of any provision under Section 131 of the Electricity Act, 2003.

The Bench was also told that the process of privatisation of the wing could not be initiated at all, especially when it was running in profits. The sale of 100 per cent stake was unjust and illegal as the wing was revenue surplus for the past three years. It was economically efficient, having transmission and distribution losses less than the target of 15 per cent fixed by the Ministry of Power. It was also contended that the transfer scheme without calling for objections from all stakeholders could not be legally sustained and acted upon. As per Section 131(2) of the Act, the power could not be transferred to a totally private entity with no stake or control of the government”.

 

11. Earlier on 15/01/2021 the press report of Tribune, based on UT Chandigarh version is quoted as under.

 

Chandigarh fast-tracks process for Power Dept privatisation

Resumes sale of tender; fixes Feb 8 as last date to submit it

·         Dushyant Singh Pundir

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 14

After the Supreme Court stayed the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the UT Administration has fast-tracked the process of privatisation of the Electricity Department. The UT Administration today resumed the sale of tender for the privatisation of the department.

The Administration has fixed February 8 as the last date to submit the tender and the bids could be opened the same day. The firm for the privatisation of the department could be selected the same day, said a senior official.

The UT Engineering Department had invited bids for the privatisation of the department on November 9. As many as 17 intended bidders, including Tata Power Company Limited, GMR Generation Asset Limited and Adani Transmission Limited, were issued requests for proposal (RFP) to take part in the privatisation process of the department.

 

12. The following sequence of events needs to be examined.

19the January 2020	Empowered Committee UT Admn meets
21st January	Public Notice sent to only one paper Dainik Bhaskar (Hindi) notifying second pre-bid meeting of 22nd January 2021. Notice was printed in paper of 22 Jan.
22nd January	Second pre-bid meeting takes place.
22nd January	Press release given by UT Chandigarh after pre-bid meeting.
23rd January	Tribune carries news item issued on 22nd January 2021.

13. The sequence of events leaves no doubt that the tendering process is being stage managed and orchestrated by UT Administration. While on one hand it is claimed that 18 firms are interested in Tender, and most of which are out station firms then how was it possible for the representatives of (some) firms to attend the pre-bid meeting of 22/01/2021 with less than one day notice.

 

14. The stage managing of the tender process becomes sell-evident. Holding of an important meeting which is a part of a tender process with less than one day notice, and with notice printed in only one daily paper established that the meeting was stage managed by UT administration in irregular/ illegal manner. Notice on the website was also issued only on or after 21 Jan.

 

15. The events described above put in question the entire tender process for privatizing of UT Chandigarh electricity department, obviously with the guidance and direction of the union power ministry from Delhi.

 

16. All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) demands that the tender process for privatisation of Chandigarh UT electricity department must be scrapped immediately and an independent inquiry instituted into the role of UT administration and union power ministry in stage-managing the tender process.

 

17. The corrigendum for “SELECTION OF BIDDER FOR PURCHASE OF ONE HUNDRED PERCENT (100%) SHARES IN DISTRIBUTION COMPANY RESPONSIBLE FOR DISTRIBUTION AND RETAIL SUPPLY OF ELECTRICITY AND HAVING DISTRIBUTION LICENSE IN THE UNION TERRITORY OF CHANDIGARH”

            appeared as a paid advertisement in the Bhaskar News Paper dated 22/1/2021. The copy of this corrigendum as obtained from the website of UT Chandigarh (Engineering Department) is attached from where it is seen that the corrigendum was signed only on 21/1/2021. This matches with the date of 22/1/2021 on which the corrigendum appeared in the Bhaskar News Paper. It is clear that the second pre-bid meeting was held with less than one day notice (corrigendum in newspaper of 22/1/2021 for pre-bid meeting also of 22/1/2021. Most  of bidders were from distant locations  such as Gujarat, Delhi, Mumbai , Ahmedabad , Dadra Nagar Haveli, Kolkata  etc.

 

18. The entire exercise of SBDs needs to be scrapped as the entire exercise of en-masse privatization of power in  misplaced and unjustified. The Chandigarh incidents/episode gives sufficient ground to disband the High Level Steering Committee  chaired by Secretary  power GOI.

 

19. The Corrigendum  for pre bid meetings  issued on/after 21 Jan  stipulates that advance submission of queries is mandatory.  This is the final evidence that the tender process was indeed manipulated and stage managed.

 

With Regards.

 

Sincerely Yours

 

Shailendra Dubey

Chairman