DMK president M.K. Stalin on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020 and abandon the proposal to cancel free electricity to farmers, saying they “intend to undermine the States’ legislative powers over electricity.”
He sent a similar letter to the Chief Ministers of the States under non-BJP governments, requesting them to stand by the efforts taken by the DMK to protect the rights of the States and the federalism guaranteed by the Constitution.
Unacceptable move
“Stepping into the States’ legislative power or to breach the principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution does not bode well for a healthy Centre-State relationship. This centralisation of State agencies only to privatise electricity later on is totally unacceptable,” he said.
Mr. Stalin pointed out that free power supply for all farmers, the first of its kind in the nation, announced by the erstwhile DMK government guaranteed farmers their rightful welfare. “This policy has been a key pillar of economic growth in Tamil Nadu since then, protecting lakhs of farmers while also controlling food inflation,” he said.
Mr. Stalin argued that the attempt to undo free power through the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020, would severely threaten the livelihoods of lakhs of our farmers.
“Further, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions, not only is this an irresponsible decision but also is an attempt to divert the attention from the most pressing issue at hand — the effective management of the COVID crisis,” he added.
Arguing that as per the Constitution, ‘Electricity’ was a subject of the Concurrent List (Entry 38), while tax on electricity consumption and sales were under the purview of the State government as seen in the State List (Entry 54), he said the Bill 2020 had been structured to transgress the States’ legislative powers in both the State and Concurrent Lists given in the Seventh Schedule under Article 246 of the Constitution of India.
Mr. Stalin said besides allowing Centre’s direct control over the States’ Electricity Regulatory Commissions, the Bill gave rights in selection of the chairman and members of State Electricity Commission by the “Selection Committee” of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.
