Goa Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar declared smart meter installation "mandatory" just weeks after the Union Power Minister told Parliament they cannot be forced on consumers. The Goa Human Rights Commission needed less than 48 hours to issue a notice calling it a prima facie rights violation.
In May 2026, Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar and Electricity Department Nodal Officer Mayur Hede publicly assured consumers that Goa's Rs 900-crore smart prepaid meter rollout was "mandatory." The small problem: on April 2, Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had explicitly told the floor of the Lok Sabha that smart meters "cannot be compulsorily imposed on consumers." The Supreme Court had also made observations on consumer consent. Critics further noted that Goa's AT&C losses stand at approximately 9% — well below the 15-25% threshold that makes an electricity division eligible for the RDSS scheme that is supposedly funding this rollout. The Goa Human Rights Commission, acting suo motu on an O Heraldo report, issued a notice to the Chief Electrical Engineer within two days, finding that the mandatory push prima facie raised concerns of human rights violations. The state government's response to questions about why a scheme for failing power divisions was being applied to one of India's better-performing states was, characteristically, to not answer.