New Delhi: In a relief to Reliance Power, Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) has allowed the company's appeal against Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) order on commercial operation date of its 4,000 MW Sasan power project in Madhya Pradesh.
APTEL set aside CERC's impugned order and has directed it to decide the matter afresh including the issue of maintainability raised by Sasan Power Ltd (SPL) without being influenced by its earlier findings. SPL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Power implementing Sasan UMPP.
"The order is set aside and the matter is remanded back to the Central Commission to decide the issues afresh after hearing of the Appellant (Reliance Power) and other concerned parties," APTEL said in its judgement dated August 12.
Reliance Power through its subsidiary Sasan Power, which is executing the project at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, had filed an appeal with APTEL on grounds that CERC's order is violative of principles of natural justice and is not tenable in law.
CERC had set aside the certificate issued by Independent Engineer's (IE) for declaration of COD (commercial operation declaration) of Sasan UMPP's first 660 MW Unit based on petition filed by Western Region Load Dispatch Centre (WRLDC).
APTEL said, "We find that the Central Commission has decided the issue on merits without giving an opportunity of being heard to the Appellant (Reliance Power) on the merits of the case and without deciding the issue of maintainability raised by the Appellant."
"We do not understand why the Central Commission decided the matter on merits hurriedly at the admission stage itself without deciding the issue on maintainability raised by the Appellant and without hearing the Appellant and the procurers of power on merits of the case. Thus, we find that it is a clear case of violation of principles of natural justice," the tribunal said in its judgement.
"We deem it fit to remand the matter to the Central Commission to reconsider the issue afresh including the issue of maintainability raised by the Appellant and decide the same after hearing the Appellant and other concerned parties without being influenced by its earlier findings," APTEL said.
The 3,960 MW Sasan UMPP was commissioned on March 30, 2013. The electricity generated from the project will be available to 14 distribution companies across seven states.
