Team Herald
PANJIM: The State government heaved a major sigh of relief as the High Court of Bombay at Goa reduced the interest of pending dues to Reliance Infrastructure to 10 per cent.
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The government had been in arbitration with the Anil Ambani-led Group wherein the former was directed to pay Rs 292 crore pending dues in separate orders by the Arbitration Tribunal and the District & Sessions Court.
The High Court, on Monday, reduced the award from Rs 119 crore (principal amount) to Rs 70 crore with the interest dropping from 15 per cent to 10 per cent.
Herald had earlier reported that when
Reliance’s 15-year contract came to an end in August 2014, the outstanding was Rs 119.32 cr as principal backlog. As on February 16, 2018, the amount due with compounded interest was Rs 292.18 cr.
Reliance Infrastructure had won the arbitration award of Rs 292 crore against the Goa government in a case relating to non-payment of dues for electricity supplied by the former. The matter went into arbitration when Goa delayed payments to Reliance Infrastructure for power supplied from its 48 megawatt-Goa power plant in Sancoale.
The Arbitration Tribunal had also ordered payment of interest at 15 per cent per annum on the total award amount if Goa fails to pay the entire award amount by the deadline.
The company had then said that the total outstanding dues, along with interest, as on October 31, 2017 amounted to Rs 278 crore. The tribunal had then also awarded Reliance Infrastructure interest from October 2017 till the date of the award, which would be another Rs 14 crore.
