Enron gets stay against Maharashtra in London court

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, OCT. 11. A London court has stayed all possible legal proceedings in any court or forum in India by the Maharashtra Government challenging the international arbitration proceedings by the Enron-sponsored Dhabol Power Company.

This ex parte injunction is considered a serious setback to the Maharashtra Government and the State Electricity Board in its efforts to wriggle out of the commitments to the public utility following accusation of misrepresentation by the DPC to the MSEB.

The Maharashtra Government had recently gone into a convulsion over a dispute between it and its solicitors and lawyers on whether it should term the misrepresentation on the efficiencies of the power plant as `fraudulent' in a civil suit.

The MSEB had been urging the Maharashtra Government informally to move quickly with a suit, limiting it to complaint of misrepresentation, which could be proved more easily than fraud.

The immediate reaction from the official sources was that ``no Indian court would rule thus on another sovereign entity''.

The Enron Virodhi Andolan said ``this was reflective of Enron's bias and contempt for Indian judicial systems despite its public face''.

The DPC said in a communique that the order by the London's Commercial Court ``results in the arbitration process'' initiated by the power utility ``in London continuing as originally contemplated and agreed to by the Government of Maharashtra and the DPC''.

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Section  : National
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