Energy tribunal Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) has dismissed a petition of the Anil Ambani-promoted firm Reliance Fuel Resources challenging the order of sectoral regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) which has refused to grant licenses to the company for city gas distribution in four areas.
The APTEL has upheld the order passed by the PNGRB which has dismissed Reliance Fuel's four applications for city gas distribution licenses.
The regulator had directed the firm to apply afresh for the CGD licenses as these were applied prior to the framing of the relevant regulations. It had said the RFRL applications were not in accordance with the existing regulations.
Challenging it before the tribunal, RFRL had contended that it had applied for the licenses prior to September 30, 2007, before the PNGRB's pipeline regulations came into existence and the board would have to decide on it as per the laws prevalent then by applying the 'Relation Back' doctrine.
However, the tribunal rejected it and said, "The board is empowered to grant authorisation only under the procedure contemplated under the regulations as referred as pipelines policy."
"The board is a statutory regulatory body and cannot favour one entity against another by allowing the appellant to apply for authorisation without following the provisions and complying with relevant regulations."
"We are to conclude that the order impugned by the regulatory board does not suffer from any infirmity and it is perfectly justified," said the APTEL bench headed by its Chairman Justice M K Vinayagam.
