Industrialist Gautam Adani’s company Adani Energy Solutions has suffered a major setback. A High Court has suspended the deal of his power sector company with a government company worth $736 million i.e. about Rs 6,185 crore. Under this deal, the Adani Group company was going to prepare power infrastructure and transmission lines under public-private partnership.
This case is from Kenya, where the High Court suspended this deal on Friday. Adani Energy Solutions had signed this deal with Kenya’s government company Kenya Electrical Transmission Company (KETRACO) earlier this month.
Regarding this deal, Kenya’s Electricity Ministry had said on October 11 that this will help in the economic growth there. It will also help in dealing with frequent blackouts in the country.
What did the High Court of Kenya say?
Kenya’s High Court suspended the deal, saying that the government cannot enter into a 30-year agreement with Adani Energy Solutions until it gives its verdict on the case filed by the ‘Law Society of Kenya’. The Law Society of Kenya itself has opposed this deal.
What is the argument of the Law Society of Kenya?
The Law Society of Kenya says that this power deal is a betrayal of the Constitution. Also there is a lot of secrecy in it. Not only this, he has also said in his suit that Catraco and Adani Energy Solutions did not conduct public participation with the public regarding this project. Whereas it is mandatory to do so under Kenya’s Public Private Partnership Act 2021.
According to an ET news, before making this deal, Kenya’s Energy Ministry had said that it has followed a competitive bidding process for this. Whereas no statement has yet come from Adani Group regarding this.
Anger against Adani in Kenya
Anger is being seen among the people there regarding the entry of Adani Group in Kenya. Recently, people protested here against handing over Kenya’s most major airport to the Adani Group for 30 years in exchange for the expansion.
