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M/s. Punjab State Power Corporation Limited v. Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 4510 of 2006)Decided 10 Feb 2015
Civil Appeal No. 4510 of 2006
Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice R.K. Agrawal

Background

The Punjab State Electricity Board (later succeeded by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited after an unbundling of its functions) challenged tariff orders passed by the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission for 2004-05 and 2005-06. The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity had dismissed the Corporation's appeals on issues like disallowed employee costs and permissible coal transit losses, while partly allowing appeals filed by industrial consumers. The Corporation then appealed to the Supreme Court under Section 125 of the Electricity Act, which limits such appeals to the narrow grounds available under Section 100 of the Civil Procedure Code (i.e., only on a substantial question of law).

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court reiterated that its jurisdiction under Section 125 is limited and that concurrent findings of fact by the Regulatory Commission and Appellate Tribunal cannot ordinarily be reopened. On the employee-cost issue, the Court found the Tribunal's method of allowing a cumulative percentage increase (rather than the Corporation's full claimed figure) to be a reasoned exercise of its fact-finding role. On coal transit losses, the Court held that the Tribunal's calibrated reduction schedule, aligned with national regulatory norms, did not warrant interference. Finding no substantial question of law, the Court dismissed the appeal.

Lesson Learnt

An appeal to the Supreme Court against an Electricity Appellate Tribunal's order is confined to substantial questions of law; purely factual determinations on costs and technical parameters made by specialised regulatory bodies will not be reopened by the Court.

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

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