Real judgements, distilled

Legal Case Shots

Court judgements broken down into the case type, how the decision played out, and the lesson worth remembering, with the full judgement available as a PDF.

Electricity & Energy LawSupreme Court of India

Haryana Power Purchase Centre (HPPC) vs. GMR Kamalanga Energy Limited

Not available · 2025 INSC 1079Decided 8 Sept 2025
Not available
Chief Justice B.R. Gavai

Background

Two connected appeals (one by Haryana Power Purchase Centre and others, the other by GRID Corporation of Orissa Limited (GRIDCO)) challenged an Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) order that had upheld a Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) ruling. The dispute centered on how coal supplied to GMR Kamalanga Energy's power plant should be apportioned among the three separate distribution companies (DISCOMs) that had power purchase agreements with the plant, each executed at different times and referencing different coal sources.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the concurrent findings of the CERC and APTEL that coal received through all modes of procurement for the power plant must be apportioned among all three DISCOMs in proportion to the energy actually supplied to each of them, not allocated based on which PPA was signed first or which agreement specifically named a coal source. It rejected GRIDCO's claim to priority based on an earlier-dated PPA, holding that no DISCOM could claim exclusive rights to particular coal linkages. Both the HPPC appeal and the GRIDCO appeal were dismissed, and the APTEL's order was upheld in full.

Lesson Learnt

Where a shared resource like a coal supply linkage serves multiple buyers of power from one plant, regulators and courts will look to actual proportional usage (energy supplied) rather than contractual priority or timing to decide a fair allocation.

Haryana Power Purchase Centre (HPPC) vs. GMR Kamalanga Energy Limited – Legal Case Shots | LegalAware