HC sets aside single judge order treating Pondy as HT

The Madras High Court today set aside the order of a single judge who directed the Puducherry government to pay charges treating it as a HT Consumer of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board.

"The Regulatory Commission recognised the transaction between Puducherry and the TNEB as an inter-state sale of energy. In view of the said finding, Puducherry cannot be termed as a HT Consumer, liable to pay the energy charges at Rs 3/per kWh," said a division bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice P Velmurugan.

The bench, which partly upheld the regulatory commission order that Puducherry cannot be considered as a HT consumer of the TNEB for fixation of tariff, set aside the part referring to maintaining status quo.

The bench said the regulatory commission exceeded its brief by directing the parties to maintain status quo even after declaring that Puducherry is not a HT Consumer.

"The moment the finding is given that the Puducherry is not a HT Consumer, the matter should come to an end.

The TNEB has no right to claim electricity charges at the rate of Rs 3 per kwh treating Union Territory of Puducherry as a HT consumer, in view of the finding given by the regulatory commission," the bench said.

The bench said the appropriate authority to fix the charges for inter-state sale of energy is only the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

It gave liberty to both the states to approach the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission to decide the dispute relating to the nature of transaction.

The Superintending Engineer I, Electricity Department, Pondicherry, had challenged the single judge order dismissing a petition filed by the Puducherry government.