New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday set aside an order of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) that had reviewed and reversed the tribunal's own five-year-old decision on an issue already settled by the top court, Bar and Bench reported. A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran said the review amounted to a gross breach of judicial discipline and raised serious doubts about the independence of the tribunal.

Source: Bar and Bench

"We cannot but observe that the Tribunal has gone haywire; we are apologetic for the expression but we find no substitute to express our angst in allowing the review, that too, when the very same issue, for the earlier years, was settled by this Court," the Bench said, holding the review clearly illegal and in violation of Article 141 of the Constitution, which makes Supreme Court law binding on all courts, Live Law reported.

Source: Live Law

May 17, 2019APTEL original order restored
Rs 2 lakhCosts imposed on Maithan Alloys
Rs 1.5 lakhCosts imposed on SAIL
18% per yearInterest if costs not paid to DVC within a month

The dispute concerned Damodar Valley Corporation's (DVC) tariff for 2009 to 2014. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) had allowed DVC to recover contributions to a sinking fund maintained to redeem bonds through electricity tariffs. In 2019, APTEL upheld that decision, relying on the Supreme Court's 2018 judgment in Bhaskar Shrachi Alloys, Bar and Bench reported.

Source: Bar and Bench

Maithan Alloys did not appeal the 2019 order but sought a review, which was heard five years later. APTEL then held that DVC could claim either the sinking fund contribution or depreciation on bond-funded assets, not both. Maithan Alloys and intervenor Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) argued this before the top court as a double benefit to DVC at consumers' cost, Live Law reported.

Source: Live Law

Rejecting the double-benefit plea, the Court held that Section 40 of the DVC Act and Regulation 43 of the 2009 CERC Tariff Regulations permit recovery of the sinking fund through tariff alongside depreciation. It termed the five-year wait for a review hearing an abuse of the process of law, imposed costs of Rs 2 lakh on Maithan Alloys and Rs 1.5 lakh on SAIL — payable to DVC within a month, failing which interest at 18 per cent per annum will apply — and restored APTEL's original order of May 17, 2019, Bar and Bench reported. The case is Damodar Valley Corporation v. Maithan Alloys Limited & Ors., Civil Appeal No. 11106 of 2024.

Source: Bar and Bench