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The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Chief Secretary, Punjab, to file an affidavit in a Public Interest Litigation over the State Government's alleged failure to pay electricity subsidy and the outstanding electricity bills of its departments to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).

The Advocate General, Punjab Maninderjit Singh Bedi, raised an objection to maintainability, questioning the petitioner's credentials and antecedents. The Bench remarked that the State should address the matter on merits rather than repeatedly raising objections to maintainability.

When the matter was taken up, the bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor asked the petitioner to establish his credentials and antecedents.

The petitioner read out a paragraph from his affidavit, but the Court was not satisfied.

The petitioner acknowledged the deficiency and sought permission to rectify it. The Court was initially inclined to dismiss the petition and asked the petitioner to withdraw it. On the petitioner's request, however, it allowed him to file an additional affidavit setting out his credentials and antecedents, and granted time for this.

During the hearing, the Court remarked that the State should address the matter on merits rather than repeatedly raising objections regarding maintainability.

The AG, to this, submitted that the objections raised were based on Punjab and Haryana's own Maintainability of Public Interest Litigation Rules 2010 and settled supreme court precedents and that several Apex court judgments were available in support of the State's objection to maintainability.

He argued that it is settled law that maintainability of a PIL must be decided at the threshold, irrespective of the gravity of the public cause involved.

The Court then directed the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit.

The petition states that it does not question PSPCL's authority to borrow money. Its concern is that the State Government's failure to clear its liabilities should not push PSPCL into additional borrowing, the burden of which would ultimately fall on electricity consumers in Punjab.

Relying on the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission's Tariff Order of March 6, 2026, the petition states that, the Commission recorded a subsidy shortfall of ₹11,109.70 crore for FY 2025-26, subject to final adjustment; it assessed ₹26,310.25 crore as payable in FY 2026-27, including the earlier shortfall and it directed the State to pay the subsidy in advance under Section 65 of the Electricity Act, 2003;

It also recorded that PSPCL had to raise working-capital loans because of the delayed subsidy and unpaid Government dues.

The petition says the State's budget for FY 2026-27 provides ₹15,550 crore for power subsidy, including ₹7,715 crore for agriculture, ₹5,771 crore for domestic consumers and ₹2,064 crore for industry. It argues, however, that a budgetary provision does not show the money has actually been released to PSPCL. It adds that about ₹7,000 crore in subsidy was reported to be outstanding in July 2026, and that the amounts released since then have not been disclosed.

The petition seeks directions to the State Government, to release the outstanding subsidy and clear its departments' electricity dues and PSPCL, to recover its outstanding amounts.

Title: JASKIRAT SINGH & Ors v. State of Punjab & Ors.

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