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The Electricity Department, Port Blair v. M/s Suryachakra Power Corporation Limited

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 1652 of 2015)Decided 22 Sept 2016
Civil Appeal No. 1652 of 2015
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

A power generation company and the Andaman & Nicobar Electricity Department were in a long-running dispute over the "project cost" and "completed cost" of a power project, figures central to tariff determination under their PPA. Multiple expert bodies (Karnataka Power Corporation, TANGEDCO, the Central Electricity Authority, and finally a five-member administration-appointed committee) had each separately assessed the project cost, with the five-member committee's final figure of Rs. 70.61 crores ultimately accepted by the administration and by the respondent itself. The Electricity Department appealed to the Supreme Court against the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's order, which among other things had also allowed an increase in interest-during-construction (IDC), financing charges and incidental expenses for project delay.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court declined to reopen the project-cost figures themselves, holding that since the respondent company had itself accepted the five-member committee's report (which did not deduct the specific amounts the appellants now sought to deduct), and since the appellants' own grounds of appeal never actually disputed that the committee report was accepted, those cost figures could not be revisited. However, the Court agreed with the appellants on one narrower point: the Appellate Tribunal had granted an increase in IDC, financing charges and incidental construction expenses for project delay suo motu (on its own, without this being part of the respondent's own appeal), and the Court set aside that specific portion of the Tribunal's order. The appeal was therefore allowed only to that limited extent and dismissed on all other points, with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

Appellate courts and tribunals must confine relief to what is actually claimed in the appeal before them: a party cannot be granted additional relief that was never part of the other side's own pleaded appeal, even if the underlying facts might otherwise support it; and once a party itself accepts an expert committee's cost findings, it is generally bound by them.

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

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