The High Court of Punjab and Haryana has put in abeyance the privatisation of the Chandigarh electricity distribution company (discom), following protests from its engineers and other workers. Staying the bid invitation process which started on November 10, the court remarked that “we feel that the matter will require detailed deliberations as it touches the employment scheme of the society in general”. The development follows the Uttar Pradesh government suspending its plan to unbundle and privatise the Varanasi discom, Purvanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam (PVVNL).
To usher in efficiency, the government was initially planning to privatise the discoms in Union Territories (UTs) by January 2021, and Chandigarh was first UT to issue notice inviting bids for the same.
