Punjab, PSEB issued notices over free power to some

Chandigarh, Mar 7 (UNI) Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice to the Punjab government and Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) for April 18 on a PIL challenging their decision to provide free power to some sections of the society.

The division bench of Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rajive Bhalla issued the notices on the plea of Pankaj Goyal of Baltana, district Mohali, vide which the state decision to provide free power to tubewells used for agricultural purposes, providing free power upto 200 units per month to the certain persons, including Scheduled Castes had been challenged as ''discriminatory''. The petitioner has also sought the directions to restrain the authorities cocerned from collecting Rs 5 per month per student by government schools and institutions, as pointed in a media report published in December 2006.

The concession of free power to some sections of the society was discriminatory and violative of article 14 of the constitution, it said.

UNI