Delhi HC restrains SECI from terminating power deal with Reliance NU Suntech

Time of India

2 days ago

The
Delhi High Court
on Tuesday restrained Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) from taking any coercive action, including terminating its
power purchase agreement
, against
Reliance NU Suntech
till it decided the case.
The court while issuing notice to SECI on Reliance NU Suntech's plea asked parties to maintain status quo and posted the matter for further hearing on September 17.
Stating that the July 1
Show Cause Notice
issued by SECI was 'perverse' and issued with a 'predetermined and premeditated mind,' Reliance NU said that its relationship with
Reliance Power
was fully disclosed in the bid and even the SECI's documents, letters and correspondence showed that they were aware of all material facts and circumstances.
SECI and Reliance NU Suntech, a subsidiary of Reliance Power, had entered into Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in April for setting up of 2000 MW ISTS-Connected Solar PV Power Projects with 1000 MW/4000 MWh
Energy Storage Systems
under Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding. Later, in July, SECI had issued a show cause notice to Reliance NU for terminating the PPA on the ground that it had not informed about the debarment of Reliance NU BESS, another
Reliance Power
subsidiary, in a fake bank guarantee (BG) documents case involving a different tender.
SECI was fully aware of the relationship and 'correctly and consciously' considered Reliance NU to be eligible, the petition stated. 'As an afterthought after having signed the Power Purchase Agreement and taking a performance bank guarantee of Rs 377.58 crore and success fees amounting to Rs 10.04 crore, SECI has issued an illegal show cause notice, seeking to terminate the PPA of April 30,' Reliance NU submitted.
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'Because suppression necessarily involves the other party being unaware of a particular fact and relying on the omission to its detriment. If the alleging party here already had full knowledge and therefore the allegation of suppression has to fail,' the petition filed through counsel Rishi Agrawala and Devika Mohan stated.
In the fake GB case last year, SECI had debarred Nu Bess in November. The HC had stayed the debarment order of Reliance Power and its subsidiary companies, except for Reliance NU BESS.