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Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) vs. Wind Four Renergy Private Limited & Ors.

Not available · 2024 INSC 795Decided 16 Oct 2024
Not available
Justice Sanjiv Khanna · Justice Dipankar Datta

Background

Wind Four Renergy Private Limited (WFRPL), a subsidiary set up to build a 50 MW wind power unit, had a commissioning deadline under its Power Purchase Agreement with SECI, the Central Government's nodal renewable-energy implementing agency. Delay in operationalising an inter-state power transmission link (Long Term Access) affected the project's timeline, and after government concessions and a Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) order extended the commissioning deadline, WFRPL still went to the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) seeking a further 132-day extension to run from the date of APTEL's own judgment (11.01.2022) rather than from the earlier CERC-fixed date. APTEL ruled in WFRPL's favour, prompting SECI's appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that APTEL's direction, letting the 132-day extension run from the date of its own 2022 judgment rather than from when WFRPL actually knew the transmission link had become operational, was irrational, since WFRPL already had the benefit of that extension once the CERC's 2021 order was passed and accepted by SECI. The Court set aside APTEL's judgment and restored the CERC's order. It also directed that Rs. 10 crores which SECI had refunded to WFRPL (after encashing a performance bank guarantee, consequent to the APTEL ruling) be repaid back to SECI with 12% annual interest, failing which the amount could be recovered as arrears under the Electricity Act.

Lesson Learnt

In infrastructure and regulatory disputes, extensions of statutory or contractual timelines must be calculated from the date the relevant event (such as a delay-causing infrastructure becoming operational) is actually known to the party, not arbitrarily reset to the date of a later court or tribunal ruling: appellate bodies cannot use procedural timing to grant relief beyond what the facts justify.

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

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