The Supreme Court today upheld the power purchase agreement between Tata Power Company (TPC) and Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), a public sector unit, for electricity allocation in Mumbai.
The order clears the way for the supply of 800 Mw by TPC to BEST as per the power purchase deal between the two entities.
A Bench headed by Justice S B Sinha, while allowing the pleas of TPC and BEST, also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on Reliance Energy for each of the six petitions filed by TPC and BEST against the Anil Ambani group firm and Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).
Today's apex court judgment quashed the Appellate Tribunal For Electricity's decision that in effect had declared the power purchase agreement between TPC and BEST null and void. It also rejected the tribunal's ruling that directed the MERC to consider REL claim over TPC's power.
The tribunal had called for an equitable distribution of available power to all the city's consumers, irrespective of prior arrangements between power suppliers.
The tribunal had said that the MERC had the powers to regulate the quantity of energy that may be supplied by a generating company to a distribution licensee when both are under the jurisdiction of the same Commission.
