The Ministry of Power released the proposals for amendment of

Electricity Act 2003,through Office Memorandum (OM) dated 05 Feb 2021 which was addressed to authorities in States power departments ( Annex 1 ), with direction to provide comments within two weeks of the  OM  dated 05 Feb, ie by 19 Feb 2021. The Ministry of Power did not put the details on the website. The Ministry of Power conducted a virtual meeting with State power sector officials on 17 Feb with just one hour time slot for each Region. A meeting with Chairpersons of State Electricity Regulatory commissions was held on 02 March  2021 at extremely short notice  which lasted just one hour.

2. On 15 March 2021 the News Paper Mint carried the following news item

The Union power ministry has circulated the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, for inter-ministerial consultation and has also sent it to the law and justice ministry for vetting, a government official aware of the development said.

3. AIPEF had sent RTI Applications to various States  to inform  on which date the MoP  OM  of 05 Feb had been received and to supply a copy of the same if received.

      Two States/UTs have informed that the MOP  OM has not been received

a)    Himachal Pradesh    Letter dt 25-02-2021    Annex 2

b)   Jammu and Kashmir  Letter  dated 09-03-2021  Annex 3

4.  From above mentioned documents It is clear that while the Ministry of Power has sent its proposals to amend Electricity Act 2003  to the Law Ministry and other Ministries on 15^th March  , two major States/UTs did not even receive the copy of Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 dated 05 Feb. Whatever proposals MoP may have sent on 15^th March  suffer from a serious lacuna of ignoring two States/UTs and denying them the opportunity to give their views/suggestions.

5. The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF)  submits that the procedure  of  finalizing EA Bill 2021  is patently discriminatory and defective and that the proposals for amendment of Electricity Act 2003 should be sent back to the Power ministry  on this account. AIPEF also requests Govt of India to withdraw Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 under the circumstances and should hold detailed discussions with most important stakeholders ie electricity consumers & power employees.

Thank you with regards.

Shailendra Dubey

Chairman