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PUCSL’s case against CEB over power cuts on April 16
The case challenging the ongoing power cuts will be taken up at the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on April 16.
Nine accused are cited in the case filed by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), with the CEB being listed as the first accused. The other accused are CEB directors.
On Tuesday, the Fort Magistrate issued notice to the CEB to be present in court on April 9. However, on Thursday, the CEB filed a motion requesting a new date, claiming its lawyer was unavailable on April 9. Accordingly, the case was fixed for April 16.
On March 29, the PUCSL filed the case on the basis that the CEB had failed to submit daily power generation reports to the regulator, as required by law. The regulator states that the licensee had not given its reports since May 27 last year.
The PUCSL argues that it was unable to exercise the powers vested with it by the legislature and take effective decisions to regulate the power sector because of the CEB’s failure to submit the reports. This has created serious issues for many parties and has also contributed to the present power crisis and the inconveniences faced by consumers, the PUCSL further claims, pointing out that the omission amounted to an offence under the PUCSL Act No 35 of 2002.