New Delhi, Jul 30 The long-pending demand for payment of dues to Himachal Pradesh from Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) projects since 1966 is set to be fulfilled as the Supreme Court on Thursday was told by the Centre that an amicable settlement can be reached on a new cashless formula between the partner states for payment of arrears.
According to sources, BBMB is paying 7.19 per cent share of Himachal Pradesh's electricity from Bhakra Beas projects after November 1, 2011, while Punjab and Haryana have not paid the outstanding dues of BBMB projects for the previous period, which is 13,066 million units.
Under the proposal, since no consensus was reached among the parties on the rate of electricity to be applied, the Centre has suggested payout to Himachal by Punjab and Haryana in energy terms.
It was also decided that Himachal will not pay the dues of Rs 420 crore to Punjab and Haryana and the amount will be adjusted from 13,066 million units of electricity.
According to the Centre's proposal, the payout to Himachal by Punjab and Haryana will not be in monetary terms but on an energy scale for over 12,000 million units out of 13,066 million units of electricity arrears.
Besides, the hilly state from which the river Beas flows does not have to pay over Rs 400 crore towards capital cost to Punjab and Haryana.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana recorded that Himachal and Haryana governments have in principle agreed to the Centre's proposal but the Punjab government has objected.
The top court pulled up the Punjab government for not agreeing to the proposal, observing that it has the habit of not following the decree of the court.
Asking it to make its stand clear on the proposal, the top court gave the Punjab government two weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on August 12.
During the hearing, Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, said the government has suggested a total cashless settlement because if the parties go by the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, there will be no settlement.
"Something has to be done," he said, adding that the parties have spent long durations to arrive at a formula, and efforts are being made to find an amicable settlement.
Senior advocate Nidesh Gupta, appearing for the Punjab government, told the bench that they have a problem with the rate at which arrears are to be paid.
He said the rate of Rs 2.5 per unit of electricity is very high and it should be a reasonable rate, otherwise, the state will incur a loss of around Rs 2,000 crore.
The bench told Gupta if Punjab does not agree to amicable settlement, then the court will examine the issue on merit and pass orders.
"Himachal Pradesh does not have that many sources for revenue generation like Punjab and Haryana. These facts need consideration. River flows from the state and dams are situated there," it said, telling Punjab that there is a decree of the court and it has to be followed.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, Advocate General Anup Ratan and Additional Advocate General Vaibhav Srivastava, appearing for Himachal, said the state was entitled to the arrears on the terms decided by the apex court in 2011.
"For 15 years, they have not paid the arrears from 1966 onwards as decided by this court. They (Punjab) got a loan from the Centre but did not pay it back.
"For 15 years, nothing has happened. We were all part of Punjab once," Sibal submitted.
Senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the Haryana government, said they agreed in principle to the proposal but they want to be part of the negotiations between the parties.
The sources said that after nearly 60 years, the dispute on Himachal's share in Bhakra Beas projects is finally seeing a glimmer of hope for settlement.
After failing to settle an inter-state dispute about allocation of assets for decades following the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, Himachal had moved the apex court in 1996 through an original suit, pleading that as a successor state, it was entitled to 7.19 per cent share in the BBMB projects.
After the central government failed to settle the dispute between the states out of court, the top court on September 27, 2011 passed a decree.
According to the decision of the apex court of 2011, the share of Himachal was fixed at 7.19 per cent, while that of Punjab and Haryana at 51.80 per cent and 37.51 per cent respectively.
Rajasthan's share largely remained unaffected, while the share of Union Territory of Chandigarh was fixed as 3.50 per cent.
According to the 2011 decision of the court, Himachal was to get a share in the Bhakra project from November 01, 1966, the Dehar project from November 1977 and the Pong Dam project from January 1978.
On July 13, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that nearly 15 years ago, the Supreme Court had clearly recognised the state's entitlement to 7.19 per cent share in BBMB projects and the benefits arising from them.
He said that despite this, the Himachal had been deprived of its share of 13,066 million units of electricity and the associated financial benefits for more than a decade.
Sukhu said that the state government was taking all necessary legal and administrative steps to recover approximately Rs 4,200 crore pending dues from the BBMB.
