A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday asked the State government to clarify whether steps had been taken to implement the power tariff hike and also whether tariff hike is being implemented with retrospective effect.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A.M. Shaffique also directed the government to clarify whether any retired board officials had been serving as members of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The court issued the directives when a batch of writ petitions challenging the power tariff revision came up before it.

KSEB affidavit

Meanwhile, in an affidavit, KSEB said that revision of tariff was made after observing all legal and procedural formalities as prescribed by the rules and regulations. Every consumer, stakeholder and the public has been given ample opportunity to present their objections to the recommendation on tariff revision.

However, the petitioners had never raised any objection to tariff revision. Moreover, if any person was aggrieved by an order passed by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, an appeal could be filed before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity under Section 111 of the Electricity Act.

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