Himachal Government To Get 18 Percent Royalty From Karcham-Wangtu Project

The Himachal Pradesh government has achieved an important legal success from the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has given a historic decision in favour of the state government regarding royalty from the Karcham-Wangtu hydroelectric project. Now, JSW energy company will have to pay 18 percent royalty to the state instead of 12 percent from this 1045 MW capacity project.

A spokesperson of the state government said that with this decision, the government would get an annual additional income of about Rs 150 crore. Apart from this, the decision of the Supreme Court would also be a milestone for other projects that have completed twelve years and the state government hopes that this decision would bring an income of more than Rs. 250 crore per year to the treasury.

He said that Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu took this issue on priority personally and made determined efforts to ensure the state's rights over the natural resources of the state. This decision would not only increase the income of the state, but also give the people of Himachal the real benefit of their resources.

This decision of the Supreme Court cancels the order of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in May 2024, in which the company was allowed to pay only 12 percent royalty. According to the agreement between the state government and the company in the year 1999, royalty was fixed as 12 percent for the first 12 years of the project and then 18 percent for the remaining 28 years. After the project started operating in September 2011, the company paid 12 percent royalty for 12 years, but refused to pay an additional 6 percent royalty from September 2023.

The dispute reached the Himachal Pradesh High Court and the decision was given in favour of the company. The state government challenged the High Court's decision in the Supreme Court. On the instructions of Chief Minister, the government strongly presented the case with the help of leading legal experts of the country and ultimately the court gave its ruling in favour of the state government. In this case, senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Prag Tripathi, Advocate General Anoop Kumar Ratan and Additional Advocate General Baibhav Srivastava appeared in the Supreme Court on behalf of the state government.

The spokesperson also said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Sukhu, the state government was continuously advocating effectively for the state interests and this decision is a strong step in that direction, due to which Himachal Pradesh is succeeding in regaining its rights.

Even before this, the present state government while demonstrating its strong will, got the court to decide in its favour the Hotel Wild Flower Hall case, which was embroiled in a legal dispute since 2002. In this case, dispute was going on between the Himachal Pradesh government and a private hotel group over ownership and management rights. After the court's decision, this property has now again come under the control of the state government, as a result of which the government will get revenue benefits from this heritage property in future.