 bill no xxxiii of 2008 the  electricity  (amendment)  bill,  2008 a billfurther to amend the electricity act, 2003be it enacted by parliament in the fifty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:— 1  (1) this act may be called the electricity (amendment) act, 2008short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date, as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint2 in section 32 of the electricity act, 2003, after sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:—amendment of section 32 of act 36 of 2003"(4) the officers or the employees of the state load despatch centre, who, by any act or ommission on their part, are responsible for denial of open access to an otherwise eligible licensee or consumer or a person engaged in generation of electricity in accordance with the regulations specified by the appropriate commission, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsit is noticed that several state load despatch centres (sldc) refuse consent to proposed transactions for sale of electricity thereby depriving generating companies and licensees from grant of non-discriminatory open access to which they are otherwise entitled under the electricity act, 2003 the said refusal of consent on the part of sldcs not only constitutes a dereliction of duty but is also detrimental to the object 'market development' sought to be achieved by the enactment of this actthere is no provision under this act which would serve as a deterrent to unscrupulous sldc officials, so that they do not refuse the consent on account of extraneous considerations in view of this a penal provision is proposed to be incorporated in the electricity act, 2003hence this billprakash  javadekar annexure extracts from the electricity act, 2003                  32  (1) the state load despatch centre shall be the apex body to ensure integrated operation of the power system in a statefunctions of state load despatch centres(2) the state load despatch centre shall —(a) be responsible for optimum scheduling and despatch of electricity within a state, in accordance with the contracts entered into with the licensees or the generating companies operating in that state;(b) monitor grid operations; (c) keep accounts of the quantity of electricity transmitted through the state grid;(d) exercise supervision and control over the intra-state transmission system;and(e) be responsible for carrying out real time operations for grid control and despatch of electricity within the state through secure and economic operation of the state grid in accordance with the grid standards and the state grid code (3) the state load despatch centre may levy and collect such free and charges from the generating companies and licensees engaged in intra-state transmission of electricity as may be specified by the state commission                    rajya  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the electricity act, 2003————(shri prakash javadekar, mp)gmgipmrnd—661rs—13022009