N.K.Mehrotra, J. - (1.) This is an appeal under Section 36 of the U. P. Electricity Reforms Act. 1999 (hereinafter referred to as 'Act') against the decision of the U. P. Electricity Regulatory Commission (hereinafter referred to as 'the Commission') respondent No. 1 dated 25.2.2003 passed in Review Petition No. 52 of 2002 filed by the appellant.
(2.) I have heard the learned counsel for the appellant and the respondent No. 1 at the admission of the appeal and on C. M. Application No. 131 of 2003 for interim relief.
(3.) It appears that the appellant is an industry comes under H. V. 2 category and is covered under Tariff applicable to H. V. 2 category industries. The U. P. Power Corporation, respondent No. 2 is the licensee in the area of the appellant. The Commission is empowered under Section 24 of the Act for framing tariff for purchase, sales, supply, transmission of the electricity in the State of Uttar Pradesh. The Commission issued Order under Section 24 of the Act on 22.10.2002 which was made effective from 9.11.2002. So the rate schedule of the licensee U. P. Power Corporation is effective from 9.11.2002. The dispute between the appellant and the licensee U. P. Power Corporation relates to the electricity bill dated 19.10.2001 which was prepared on the basis of the 15% surcharge as on Independent Feeder which was earlier turned down by the U. P. Power Corporation itself. The appellant finding it unreasonable and Illegal, filed objection before the Commission on 31.10.2001. The petition was heard alongwith several other petitions by the State Regulatory Commission and the Commission dismissed the petition of the appellant on 12.9.2002. The appellant filed Appeal No. 78 of 2002 under Section 36 of the Act before this Court which is pending and in which there is an interim order dated 23.10.2002 that till the next date of listing, the electrical connection of the appellant, shall not be disconnected on account of the non-payment of 15% surcharge. Here, it will be relevant to mention that the total amount of arrears of the electricity dues as in November, 2002 against all the H.V. 2 consumers was Rs. 1,217.07 crores and upto December, 2002, the appellant Modipon Fibres Co. was liable to pay the dues to the tune of Rs. 1.54 crores. So the disconnection on account of this heavy amount of arrears is stayed by the interim order of this Court in Appeal No. 78 of 2002 against the order of the Commission dated 1.9.2002 Appellant filed Appeal No. 62 of 2002 before filing the Appeal No. 78 of 2002 and was given an interim order dated 9.9.2002 by which the appellant has availed the High Load Factor Rebate till 8.11.2002. The appellant also filed an Appeal No. 92 of 2002 on a similar question of dues column interpretation and in both the appeals, the order of remand were passed directing the Commission for disposal of the question of dues in the concerned tariff. Three orders passed by this Court in different appeals, filed by the present appellant are Annexures-2, 3 and 4 annexed to the application for interim relief. Since in Appeal No. 92 of 2002, there was a direction to the appellant to file a review petition, it was filed by the appellant before the Commission and it was decided on 25.2.2003 which is impugned in this appeal. The entire order has not been challenged. Only a portion of the order has been challenged. In order to understand the portion of the order which has been challenged, I quote the operative portion of the order as follows : "(a) In case the petitioner or any other consumer in the H.V. 2 category is in arrears and has obtained an order of stay, from a Court or any statutory authority the amount of load factor rebate for which the consumer is eligible in respect of the amount of the bill shall be calculated and the same shall accrue to the account of the consumer but actual credit thereof will not be given to the consumer in his monthly bill until the case relating to the dispute regarding arrears is finally decided by the competent court/statutory authority. (b) If the petitioner succeeds in his dispute relating to his arrear, the load factor rebate as accrued to him, for the entire period shall be paid to him with interest at the rate equal to deposit rate of the State Bank of India during that period. However, this rebate shall be payable to the consumer only when the consumer has cleared the reduced amount of arrear, if any, as decided by the Court/Authority, in full. (c) On the other hand, if U.P.P.C.L. succeeds in establishing that that amount of arrear, as claimed by it, was correct, the consumer shall not be eligible for load factor rebate and will be liable to pay the arrears along with the late payment surcharge. (d) If any consumer is aggrieved by the orders of U.P.P.C.L., in giving effect to the directions above, it will be open to him to approach this Commission for redressal of his grievance after exhausting all the channels of the licensee under the provisions of the Supply Code, 2002.";