[COVID-19 Lockdown] Gujarat HC agrees to hear plea by re-rolling mills association to waive off fixed electricity charges for May and June

The Gujarat re-rolling mills association has approached the Gujarat High Court seeking directions for the authorities to waive off the fixed minimum demand electricity charges for the months of May and June this year in the face of the COVID-19 lockdown. (Gujarat re-rolling mills association petition).The High Court is likely to hear this plea for waiver of fixed electricity charges for re-rolling units in Gujarat next week. A single Judge Bench of Justice BN Karia has issued notice on the plea..The association has over fifty steel re-rolling units as its members. The business activities of these units has come to a halt since the imposition of nationwide lockdown since March 25, the petitioner organization has told the Court. .The business activities of these steel re-rolling units remained halted and suspended through the first three legs of the lockdown, it is added. With the fourth phase of lockdown, while the guidelines made many relaxations, the country was hit by a migrant crisis leading to a shortage of labour, which too provided no respite, it is submitted..The concerned authorities had waived of the fixed demand electricity charges from these companies shortly after the lockdown was announced in March. .However, the member companies, which are MSMEs, are being asked to pay these charges for the month of May. These charges, the petition says, are exorbitant and with the suspension of business, the MSMEs would be unable to bear these charges..The members of the association may be forced to shut their entire operations, affecting the life and livelihood of thousands of people employed there if relief is not granted to them, it is pointed out. ."It is submitted that the members of the petitioner association are already at the brink of closure and any further economic hardship will result not only in the closure of the members of petitioner association but will also result in the loss of livelihood of large number of labourers who are dependent on the said member industries for their survival and livelihood."The plea says.These charges being demanded of the members of the association have fallen due on May 30. Prior to that, despite many representations being made to the concerned authorities, no response was received by the petitioner association. Therefore, the petitioner was constrained to approach the High Court, it is said..The Court issued notice on this plea after the urgency of the matter was pointed out. The petition is likely to be heard next week..The petition has been filed through Advocate Arpit R. Singhvi. .Read Petition: