Sreya Kanugula
The Union Territory of Chandigarh’s administration has officially challenged the High Court’s stay order on their call of privatising the territory’s power (DISCOM) department 100% in the Supreme Court. They applied for a Special Leave Petition (SLP) to do so.
Earlier on December 1st, 2020, the Punjab and Haryana high court Justices Jitendra Chauhan and Vivek Puri gave the stay order that’s now being challenged.
This was done so after taking the UT Powermen Union’s plea into account. This is the same worker’s union that challenged the UT administration’s 100% privatisation move in the first place.
The SLP was filed by the government after the Centre pushed for them to do so. A letter was sent by the power ministry through an officer of an undersecretary rank, that indicates how important the power privatisation move in union territories is, under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat policy. And how important it is for it to be carried out in Chandigarh as scheduled.
The letter reminds the Chandigarh administration of judicial review’s limitations upon the formulation of government policy choices. And how they should immediately apply for an SLP in the Supreme Court to get the HC’s stay order vacated while keeping the Centre informed of its progress.
The hearing date is yet to be fixed upon this matter in the court. It’s been reported that UT’s administration is making use of several Supreme Court senior lawyers to prepare its defence before the court.