Dehradun, April 28 -- The Uttarakhand high court ruled on Monday that the state government lacks authority to impose a tax on electricity generation from hydropower projects, overturning a prior levy in a special appeal filed by THDC India Ltd. Delivering the order, a single bench of justice Alok Kumar Verma, held that the state government does not have the power to levy such a tax and that authority rests solely with the Union government. Shobit Saharia, counsel for THDC India Ltd, said that an earlier single bench of the high court had dismissed petitions from various hydropower companies and upheld the state government's legislation on water tax. The companies challenged that order through special appeals before a division bench. During the hearing, former chief justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Ravindra Maithani expressed differing views and referred the issue back to a single bench, which delivered its decision on Monday. In 2012, the state government enacted the Uttarakhand Water Tax on Electricity Generation Act to levy a water tax on hydropower projects of more than 5 MW capacity situated in the state, based on water drawn for power generation at rates set by the government....