JUDGMENT

V.S. SIRPURKAR, J.

1. This judgment will dispose of the above three Civil Appeals which have been filed by three Appellants, namely, Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. and Rajasthan Rajya Vidhyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd. The common question of law is involved in all the three appeals which relates to the interpretation of Regulation 2.7(d)(iv) of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms & Conditions of Tariff) Regulation, 2001 (hereinafter called the "CERC Regulations, 2001").

These appeals are filed under Section 125 of The Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003) and against the orders passed by the Appellate Tribunal allowing the appeals filed by the respondents therein. The following factual matrix would be necessary for the proper understanding of the controversy involved in these appeals.

2. Before the present Act came in the anvil, the Electricity Supply Act, 1948 was occupying the field and the Central Government norms for fixing tariff for the period 1.11.1992 to 31.10.1997 were notified under Section 43A of the said Act. The Legislature then brought in Electricity Regulatory Commissions Ordinance which was ultimately converted i