Waheed Para flags ₹1,000 crore setback to J&K after HC ruling on hydropower water charges
SRINAGAR — PDP MLA Waheed Ur Rehman Para on Friday flagged an estimated Rs 1,000 crore financial setback to Jammu and Kashmir following a High Court ruling striking down water usage charges imposed on hydropower projects.
In a post on X, Para said the High Court had quashed the water usage charges, rejecting demands dating back to 2010.
Para described the verdict as a major financial blow to J&K, questioning the government’s handling of the case and its legal preparedness.
He also criticised the government over the absence of an Advocate General for nearly two years, alleging that the Law Department was functioning under the Chief Minister.
“If this is how we defend our interests, what’s hope for statehood case?” Para asked.
The High Court’s Division Bench comprising Justice Rajnesh Oswal and Justice Sanjay Dhar held that the water usage charges imposed under the 2010 Act were, in substance, a tax on electricity generation, which the erstwhile state legislature lacked the constitutional competence to impose.
The court allowed petitions filed by independent power producers, including Mass N Energy Private Limited, Magpie Hydel Construction Operation Industries and Choudhary Power Projects, and quashed the related demand notices.
The Bench observed that the charges were linked to electricity generation rather than the actual consumption of water, which is returned to the river after passing through turbines in conventional hydropower projects.
It also rejected the argument that the adoption of the 2010 Act under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, could validate the levy.
The court consequently struck down the relevant provisions of the Act to the extent that they imposed water usage charges on hydropower projects and restrained the authorities from imposing such charges as a tax on electricity generation.
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