The Supreme Court has issued an interim order prohibiting the work of the committee chaired by Arvind Kumar Mishra, formed by the Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Deepak Khadka on November 2 to settle the arrears of customers who consume electricity from dedicated and trunk lines. The joint bench of Supreme Court Justices Saranga Subedi and Tek Prasad Dhungana gave an interim order on the writ petition filed by advocate Khadananda Kandel on November 13.

Kandel requested the joint committee to investigate, verify and submit the report and issue an interim order asking them not to do the work. Since the committee formed under mixed coordination has been operating since the beginning of its operation, the resources of the state have been misused and since the beginning, it has been an illegal act and damage to the state fund, until the petition is finalised. "Let an interim order be issued in accordance with Rule 49 of the Supreme Court Rules, 2074 to keep the status quo without implementing the letter of 43," it is stated in the writ petition filed by Kandel. Among the members of the

committee were former Nepal Electricity Authority employee Ramraj Pandey and Chartered Accountant (CA) Sujan Kumar Kafle. A committee headed by Mishra was formed to study the time of day (TOD) meter in the outstanding dispute of dedicated feeder and trunk line. But the Nepal Electricity Authority had been taking the stand that such a committee should be formed through the court or the Electricity Regulatory Commission. Energy Minister Khadka has been saying that the authority should bear the salaries and allowances of the committee, from office materials to vehicles. For that, the ministry had sent a letter to the authority asking the committee to provide necessary data and service facilities. But the authority informed the committee that it would not provide the data from salary and allowances, saying it was illegal.

Meanwhile, a meeting was held on the 4th to welcome the new members of the board, Bal Bahadur Parajuli and Lakshman KC, who were appointed on the 3rd of December. But Minister Khadka proposed that data should be made available to the members of the committee. Kulman Ghising, Executive Director of Nepal Electricity Authority, wrote a 'Note of Dissent' on the proposal to provide service facilities. Although the proposal was discussed that day, it was not passed. It was passed by the majority after the

. Ghising said that the court's verdict also proved that the matter he had written the note of dissent was valid. "I had written a note of dissent saying it was an illegal committee, it has been proved," he said, "The committee formed by the government has been found to be illegal." The commission formed with the Energy Secretary and the Industry Secretary as members submitted a report to the then Energy Minister Shakti Basnet on 23 Baisakh 2081.

The cabinet meeting held on November 25 decided to publish the report submitted by the commission. In addition, the Ministry of Energy decided to calculate the outstanding amount of electricity consumed by the customers who consume electricity from dedicated and trunk lines (based on TOD meter) and collect them within 15 days after calculating them according to the current law on tariff determination and collection.

Energy Minister Khadka took the same decision of the Council of Ministers and formed a three-member committee headed by Mishra. The Red Commission said that the amount should not be collected from July 2072 to December 2072 when the electricity tariff has not been determined. In the case of the second period i.e. from January 2072 to April 2075, according to the prescribed standards, the commission suggests that the days and periods of electricity supply to the customers should be determined and recalculated and the discount fee charged. In the case of