A legal notice was served on Wednesday asking the government to review its electricity contract with Adani Group of India.
Supreme Court lawyer Barrister M Abdul Qaiyum sent the legal notice by registry post asking the government to start the process of review by three days.
The notice asked the Chairman of the Bangladesh Power Development Board and the Secretary of the Energy Ministry to reply to the notice within three days. Otherwise, the notice sender will file a writ petition with the High Court seeking necessary directives in this regard, the notice threatened.
The notice also called for a review committee consisting of energy and legal experts to give a detailed report.
In the legal notice, Abdul Qaiyum said many experts have reportedly opined that under the said agreement, Bangladesh will pay significantly higher prices in comparison to what it pays for its other coal-based power for lower-grade coal.
The coal will be supplied from an Adani-owned mine in Australia to an Adani-owned port in India from where it will get shipped to the Godda plant, which is in a coal-mining state (at the expenses of Bangladesh).
The legal notice referred to an Aljazeera report that said, "BPDB (Bangladesh) was basically locked into a power purchase agreement that allows Adani to import coal into an Indian coal mining state from Australia and pass the full cost onto Bangladesh."
In the legal notice, Barrister Qaiyum said, "It is inconceivable that how such a one-sided agreement was executed by PBDB unless officials involved were managed by Adani Ltd."
A 25-year power purchase agreement was signed with Adani in 2017. At that time, no imported coal-based power plant was started in the country.
Electricity is supplied to Bangladesh from Adani's 1,600 MW power plants in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. The Adani power costs Bangladesh about Tk 12 ($0.1008) per unit, an official of the Bangladesh Power Development Board said, citing the latest audit report for financial year 2023-24.
That is 27 per cent higher than the rate of India's other private producers and as much as 63per cent more than Indian state-owned plants.
Meanwhile, after slashing the power supply to Bangladesh by half over unpaid dues, Adani Power on Tuesday set a deadline of November 7 to switch off the flow of electricity if there is no clarity on settlement of the outstanding amount, reports Times of India.
Currently, Bangladesh owes Adani almost $850 million, said the report published on Wednesday.
Later in the day, Adani Group in a clarification said it has not demanded full payment in 7 days.
