Chandigarh, May 21 -- Haryana Congress MLAs on Wednesday sought an inquiry into the Rs.1,300 crore payout by Haryana Power Utilities to Sikkim Urja Limited (erstwhile Teesta Urja Ltd) - a power generation company in which Greenko Energies holds a majority stake - without taking approval from the chief minister (CM) and energy minister, as required under the government procedure. Congress MLAs, Bharat Bhushan Batra, Ashok Arora and Aftab Ahmed, at a briefing in Chandigarh, alleged that it was a scandal and the CM and energy minister need to explain how this payment was made by the utilities without their approvals. "The manner in which the payout was made, there is a strong possibility and suspicion of kickbacks which needs to be inquired into,'' Batra alleged. HT had on March 8 published the story on how a the hefty payment was made by utilities to Sikkim Urja without the approval of the CM and energy minister, thus putting the spotlight on the decision-making process that facilitated the high-value payment. Questioning the payout, Batra said that why did the state government not petition the Supreme Court to challenge orders of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL). The CERC in its November 22, 2022, order had held that the 2018 termination of a 2006 power supply agreement by Haryana Power Purchase Centre (HPPC) was illegal. It ordered that PTC India Ltd, a central government initiated public-private partnership, and Teesta Urja were entitled to the payment of tariff by Haryana utilities as determined by CERC from the project's commercial operation date, including arrears payable (after adjusting any revenue earned from sale of power under short term/ through exchange), within two months of the order. The APTEL refused to interfere with the CERC's orders and directed that payment be released by HPPC to Sikkim Urja following the submission of an unconditional bank guarantee from a scheduled bank by the latter. "The state of Haryana did not get single unit of electricity Sikkim Urja power supply agreement. Yet Rs.1,300 crore were handed on a platter by the utilities and that too without the approvals of the energy minister, CM and council of ministers, and without exploring legal options to protect the interest of the state,'' Batra said. The Congress MLA said that the state government went up to the Supreme Court when CERC and APTEL ruled in favour of Adani Power Ltd's claims of compensatory tariff. "The Haryana Power Utilities in 2022 made payments of Rs.712.72 crore to Adani Power but only after taking approval from the then CM Manohar Lal Khattar and council of ministers,'' Batra said. The Congress MLA also asked why negotiations with Sikkim Urja were not undertaken since it was a government to government transaction. "May be the state government would have saved couple of hundred crores,'' he added. Batra also questioned the prudence of the state government and power utilities in terminating the 2006 power sale agreement in March 2018 citing time overrun and cost overrun in the commissioning of the 1200 MW Teesta-III hydroelectric project in Sikkim....