Pay Rs 75 cr for auxiliary consumption: HC to Nalco

The division bench of Justices BP Das and RN Biswal has given the aluminium major six weeks to deposit the amount. The State Government has demanded Rs 300 crore from the company. The directions have come in the midst of hearing the writ petitions filed by Nalco and other industries including ICCL, Balasore Alloys, Ballarpur Industries and Jayashri Chemicals challenging the Constitutional validity of the Orissa Electricity Duty Act. They have submitted that the State Government had no power to impose duty on the electricity generated by their own captive power plants. The State Government has, however, countered that the Act is valid. Citing examples, it said that several states had levied such duty on the power generated by industries. The levy has also been upheld by the Supreme Court. The HC had earlier issued notices to the State Government on this account and had also directed Nalco to pay Rs 10 crore. The Central PSU had complied with the directions.