LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Wednesday took serious note of the discrimination in electricity supply to various districts in Uttar Pradesh (UP) by the state government. After hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) in this regard, the court directed the government to submit the the roster of the electric supply to all districts of UP on September 10, the next date of hearing.

A division bench of the court comprising Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Virendra Kumar Dixit passed the order on a PIL filed by lawyer Ashok Pandey. The PIL states that 24- hour uninterrupted power supply to six districts which are represented by VVIPs is discrimination as other districts recieving only 12-16 hours of supply. The VVIP districts include Kannauj, Mainpuri, Etawah, Rampur, Rae Bareli and Amethi. While Mainpuri and Kannuaj are represented in Lok Sabha by the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his daughter-in-law Dimple, who is also wife of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav , Etawah is Yadav's home district. Rampur is the home district of powerful minister in Akhilesh government Azam Khan. Rae Bareli and Amethi are constituencies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi respectively.

The petitioner alleged that it is a clear cut discrimination among the districts of the state as some districts related to VVIPs were provided 24- hour supply while others were not.The petitioner prayed that uninterrupted supply to the VVIP districts should be withdrawn and it should be at par with other districts. The petitioner also sought a direction that uninterrupted 24- hour power supply be provided to all religious places as a large number of pilgrims and tourists visit them and power cuts malign the image of the state. On behalf of the state government and UP power corporation, time was sought and the court while fixing September 10 as the next date of hearing directed producing the roster of power supply then.