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Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. & Ors. vs. Adani Power Rajasthan Ltd. & Anr.

Not available · 2024 INSC 213Decided 18 Mar 2024
Not available
Justice Aniruddha Bose · Justice Sanjay Kumar

Background

Adani Power Rajasthan Limited (APRL) supplied electricity to Rajasthan's distribution companies ("Rajasthan Discoms") under a 2010 Power Purchase Agreement that primarily contemplated domestic coal as fuel, with imported coal as a backup. When domestic coal linkage proved insufficient, APRL had to rely on costlier imported coal from Indonesia and sought compensation, a dispute that was finally decided by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in 2020 (with the Discoms' review petitions later dismissed). APRL then filed a miscellaneous application seeking a direction for payment of Rs. 1,376.35 crore towards Late Payment Surcharge (LPS), relying partly on observations made in earlier contempt proceedings.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that a miscellaneous application filed in connection with appeals that had already been finally and conclusively decided was not the appropriate legal vehicle to raise a fresh substantive claim for LPS payment, especially since APRL itself had never filed a review petition against the original 2020 judgment. The Court noted that an earlier contempt bench had also declined to address the LPS issue since it fell outside the scope of the contempt proceedings, and clarified that prima facie observations made at an interim stage of the present proceedings did not amount to a finding that the application was maintainable. It dismissed the application as not maintainable and imposed costs of Rs. 50,000 on APRL for repeatedly listing the matter.

Lesson Learnt

Once a set of appeals has been finally and conclusively decided by the courts, a party cannot use a miscellaneous application to reopen or add fresh substantive claims: the proper remedy (such as a review petition) must be pursued within the appropriate procedural framework and timeline.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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