SC upholds Rs 186 cr payout by Rajasthan Discom to Adani Power over ‘change in law'
The
Supreme Court
on Friday upheld an Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's order that asked Rajasthan discom to pay 'huge sum' of Rs 186 crore to
Adani Power
Rajasthan, now merged into Adani Power, as benefits due to 'change in law' along with carrying costs at Late
Payment
Surcharge
(LPS) rates of their Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
A Bench led by Justice MM Sundresh said that it did not find any reason to interfere with the tribunal's April 2024 judgment. 'Liability has been fastened upon the appellants (discoms) under the agreement. The contention that the supplementary bill ought to have been raised earlier and, therefore, the payment can only be made thereafter has neither a factual basis nor a legal one,' it said.
However, the court noted that Adani had not notified the change in law event immediately after the notification was issued in 2017.
The four Rajasthan discoms - Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam, Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam, Jodhpur Vidyut Vitran Nigam and Rajasthan Urja Vikas Nigam (Now Rajasthan Urja Vikas and IT Services) – had alleged that Aptel had allowed a huge margin of profit/windfall gain in favour of Adani, despite the fault being attributable to Adani for causing delay in litigation.
In 2009, Adani Power in a competitive bidding process had bagged contract for supply of 1200 MW of power to be generated at Kawai Power Project, Rajasthan, to the discoms to meet the power requirements of the state. The four discoms had entered into a power PPA with Adani Power for supply of 1200 MW aggregate contracted capacity at a levelised
tariff
of Rs 3.238 per unit. The agreement was also approved by the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission.
In 2017,
Coal India
, through a notification, imposed a levy of evacuation facility charges at Rs 50 per tonne applicable on every coal dispatch, except dispatch through rapid loading arrangement, with effect from December 20, 2017.
Adani had notified Rajasthan Urja Vikas that the Coal India notification constituted a 'change in law' event and also filed a petition before the Commission seeking evacuation facility charges along with carrying costs.
While the Commission in 2019 disallowed Adani's petition for the levy of evacuation charges by Coal India, the sectoral tribunal allowed the evacuation facility charges to be paid in favour of Adani Power from the date of notification and also granted relief of carrying cost at LPS rates of PPA to Adani. This was challenged by the Rajasthan discoms before the Supreme Court.
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