Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, J. - (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The validity of a tariff regulation framed by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) was questioned before the High Court of Judicature at Bombay. Bereft of jargon both legal and scientific the plea of the appellant is of discrimination. The discrimination, according to the appellant, lies in a statutory regulation determining the Station Heat Rate. According to the appellant, its thermal power station at Dahanu has been subjected to a more stringent norm than other comparable units. MERC, it is asserted, breached the National Tariff Policy 2006. The High Court held against the appellant both on the maintainability of its writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution and on the merits of the challenge to the validity of the statutory regulation. The case has thus travelled to this Court.
(3.) The Electricity Act 2003 came into force on 10 June 2003. Electricity Regulatory Commissions constituted under Section 82 are empowered to frame regulations under Section 181, including the terms and conditions for determination of tariff under Section 61 (Section 181(2)(zd)). The MERC framed the MERC (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations 2005 (Tariff Regulations 2005) for a period of five years, upto financial year 2010-11. The regulations, in so far as the appellant is concerned were extended for a further period of one year upto financial year 2011-12.;