Supreme Court ends Tehri litigation in national interest

The Supreme Court has finally ended the protracted legal battle between global concerns Voith Hydro GMBH Co and Alstom over building the Tehri pump storage plant and paved the way for Tehri Hydro Power Complex to become a major peaking station with an installed capacity of 2400 MW.

The Supreme Court has asked Tehri Hydro Power Corporation (THPC) to complete scrutiny of tenders of the two companies within three weeks, saying national interest took precedence over personal one.

“Till today, even the contract has not been finalised. All this would invariably cause loss to the nation. After all, contractual rights of these companies are not more important than national interest,” Supreme Court said.

Voith and Alstom’s litigation over contractual rights has delayed the project that could benefit thousands. Keeping in mind national interest, Supreme Court said this case was a “classic example of the whole nation suffering on account of the fight between two multi-national companies”.

A bench of Justice VS Sirpurkar and Justice TS Thakur said the issue of “national interest is our prime concern, the importance of which cannot be undermined”.

The Supreme Court judgment quashes the stay on contracts given by the Uttarakhand high court on Voith’s plea. It also scraps unsubstantiated allegations of “bias” and “nepotism” made against the government-owned THDC.