New Delhi, Oct 30 The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity has “gone haywire” and committed a blatant breach of judicial discipline, the Supreme Court said on Friday while criticising the tribunal for reviewing its order related to the Damodar Valley Corporation.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran said the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) violated the principle laid down in Article 141 of the Constitution by reopening an issue which the top court had already settled.
“We cannot but observe that the tribunal has gone haywire; we are apologetic for the expression, but we find no substitute to express our angst in allowing the review, that too, when the very same issue, for the earlier years, was settled by this court,” the bench observed.
It set aside the tribunal's order, saying it was passed in defiance of the apex court's original 2019 judgment, which had allowed the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) to recover contributions to its “Sinking Fund” through electricity tariffs.
A Sinking Fund is a dedicated pool of money to pay for a specific, known future expense or financial obligation.
The top court also imposed costs of Rs 2 lakh on Maithan Alloys Limited, which had sought the review before the tribunal, and Rs 1.5 lakh on Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) for supporting the review order.
The dispute pertains to DVC's tariff determination for 2009-2014, and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) permitting the power generation company to treat contributions to its Sinking Fund as an expenditure recoverable through electricity tariffs.
The bench, while allowing the DVC's appeal, said the APTEL acted in derogation of the principle of judicial discipline, while ignoring the binding precedent of the apex court.
“We find the review to be clearly illegal, totally misplaced and blatantly in breach of the principles of judicial discipline. We also have to emphasise the travesty insofar as violation of Article 141 of the Constitution.
“Our judicial system with the hierarchy of courts thrives on the sanctity of the decisions of the appellate, revisional and supervisory jurisdictions to be given due weightage.
“As far as Article 141 is concerned, it's a Constitutional imprimatur which ensures the decisions of the highest court of the land to be followed, without which there will be mayhem,” the bench said.
