Acting Chief Secretary Shakuntala D Gamlin, whom the Kejriwal Government has accused of lobbying for Reliance-owned power distribution companies, has claimed that contrary to the allegations against her it was, in fact, she who had ensured that the Delhi Government would not be required to pay anything to the two discoms in lieu of the subsidy it is giving to power consumers in Delhi.
In a note to lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung dated May 18, 2015, Gamlin refuted the charges and said they were not supported either by facts or circumstances. Gamlin claimed that she, of her own accord, inserted a provision whereby BRPl and BYPl, the two discoms in question, would be required to adjust the subsidy amount of Rs1,000 crore from the Delhi Government against dues owed by them to State PSUs and in turn the Delhi Government would pay these dues back to the State power PSUs. And this arrangement, she said, would be till the time the Rs5,000 crore of dues outstanding against BRPl and BYPl were fully realised.
“In other words, the Delhi Government would not be required to pay the two discoms anything towards the subsidy amount, running into over Rs1,000 crore/annum till such time as these dues amounting to over Rs5,000 crore had been fully realised from them (discoms). Had what has been alleged by the Delhi Government been even marginally true, I would not have taken steps to deny over Rs1,000 crore to two Reliance owned discoms by way of the subsidy amount due to them,” Gamlin said in the note.
In the light of allegations levelled by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Gamlin accused Power Minister Satyendra Jain of sullying her image in public without substantiating his allegations with facts and circumstances.
She made it clear that as far as proposed comfort letter is concerned, it has been categorically stated in the letter that the Delhi Government will help Power Finance Corporation (PFC) recover dues from discoms.
"Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD)'s role is limited to assisting PFC in recovery of dues from the two discoms and the same cannot in any manner be stretched to mean that GNCTD stands as a guarantor for the loan. Even then, on the advice of the Hon'ble Minister for Power tendered on April 14, a letter has been addressed to PFC by way of abundant caution, requesting them to clarify the position. A reply to this letter is awaited. When the matter rests there itself and the inter-departmental consultative process is still in progress, the question of persistently pestering him (the Power Minister) to give some kind of guarantee (comfort letter) to PFC in favour of Reliance-owned power companies could not have arisen as there was no need at all after April 14," Gamlin said in her note.
Kejriwal had claimed his Government has proof that Gamlin was lobbying for power discoms and she tried to pass off a guarantee as a comfort letter. "A secretary with the Power Department came to our Power Minister seeking his sign on some papers. When our Power Minister looked into it, he found out those papers were not comfort letters but guarantees. When asked what those papers were, the Secretary said Delhi power companies are taking a loan of Rs 11,000 crore and this is a comfort letter," Kejriwal had said at a rally in Burari last week. Kejriwal had also opposed that she should not be given the charge of acting chief secretary in the wake of lobbying of Reliance owned power companies.
In his letter to the Chief Minister dated May 9, 2015, the Power Minister had urged to relieve her (Principal Secretary power) as there is an active collusion of politicians, bureaucrats and power companies as some bureaucrats promote the interests of these two power companies.
Surprisingly, though Jain has wrote the letter on May 9, the Government, through Manish Sisodia, forwarded Gamlin's name among four bureaucrats running for acting Chief Secretary's post to lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung's office on May 13.