SC refuses to restrain MERC from fixing tariff

Besides seeking vacation of the apex court's interim order, which stayed the electricity tribunal's judgement on May 14, Reliance also sought a direction to Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) to allocate TPC's generating capacity as was done for financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08.     

A bench headed by Justice C K Thakker, however, refused to give any relief to Reliance which had sought vacation of stay on the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's decision that directed MERC to consider Reliance's claim over power generated by Tata Power Company (TPC).     

Justice Thakker said the company should approach MERC along with May 14 order and the Commission "will no doubt pass the appropriate direction."     

While admitting TPC's plea, the apex court on May 14 had stayed the tribunal judgement that had in effect declared the power purchase agreement (PPA) between TPC and Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) as null and void.

The tribunal had also called for equitable distribution of available power to all the city's consumers, irrespective of prior arrangements between power suppliers.     

Reliance Energy (now Reliance Infrastructure) today sought to restrain MERC from determining the distribution tariffs for Mumbai based on the capacity allocations as per the approved PPAs of TPC with BEST on the ground that it should not pass the orders without considering its application for equitable distribution.