JUDGMENT

ANIRUDDHA BOSE, J.

The applicant, Adani Power Rajasthan Limited (APRL), is a generating company as per Section 2(28) of the Electricity Act, 2003 (“2003 Act”). It operates a thermal power plant in the State of Rajasthan. There were three appellants (1 to 3) in the main set of appeals, in connection with which the present application has been taken out, being the distribution licensees of the State of Rajasthan as per the provisions of the 2003 Act. They shall, henceforth in this judgment, be collectively referred to as “Rajasthan Discoms”. Rajasthan Urja Vikas Nigam Limited was the 4th appellant in the main set of appeals. It appears to have been formed by the Government of Rajasthan for the purpose of coordination among the aforesaid three Discoms, as also other distribution licensees of the State.

2. Through this miscellaneous application, the applicant seeks a direction upon the Rajasthan Discoms for making payment of Rs.1376.35 crore towards Late Payment Surcharge (“LPS”). This claim has been raised by the applicant citing Article 8.3.5 of the Power Purchase Agreement dated 28.01.2010 (“PPA-2010”) entered into between the Rajasthan Discoms and the applicant. The present application has been captioned as “APPLICATION FOR DIRECTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT NO.1/APPLICANT (ADANI POWER RAJASTHAN LIMITED)” in the said appeals which stood disposed of by a common judgment of a three-Judge Bench of this Court delivered on 31.08.2020. Review petitions filed against this judgment by the Rajasthan Discoms stood dismissed on 02.03.2021.

3. The appeals arose out of a dispute involving certain additional payments claimed by the applicant as per the PPA-2010. Under the agreement, the applicant was to supply electricity to the Rajasthan Discoms, which had to be generated by the applicant. For this purpose, the PPA-2010 postulated domestic coal as the primary source of energy, while imported coal was to be used as a backup option. The applicant’s complaint was that, due to non-availability of sufficient domestic coal, it could not be allocated a domestic coal linkage by the Government of India and it was compelled to rely on imported coal from Indonesia, which had a higher cost. Claim for compensation of loss, caused on account of non-supply of domestic coal, was raised by the applicant before the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (“RERC”), invoking the change in law clause of the PPA-2010. Change in law was one of the conditions under the PPA-2010, for which tariff adjustment payment could be made by the seller of electricity following the procedure stipulated in the aforesaid agreement. By an order dated 17.05.2018, RERC held that the applicant would be entitled to relief on account of change in law, which was held to be the difference between actual landed cost of alternative/imported coal (as certified by the auditor) and actual landed cost of domestic linkage coal. This was recorded in an order passed on 25.02.2022 by a Coordinate Bench of this Court in a contempt action brought by the applicant [Contempt Petition (Civil) No(s) 877-878 of 2021]. We shall refer to the said proceeding later in this judgment. We also need not delve into the question of eligibility of the applicant to get additional sum on account of change in law, as that question stands finally decided in the main judgment.

4. The applicant had also raised another claim for additional payment before the RERC, under the head of carrying cost which was disallowed by the RERC. Rajasthan Discoms, being aggrieved by the grant of change-in-law compensation, as also the applicant, being aggrieved by rejection of the claim for carrying costs appealed against the order of the RERC before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (“APTEL”). By a common decision dated 14.09.2019, the APTEL found that the applicant’s claim based on “change in law” was valid and opined that the applicant was entitled to compensation for the loss caused to it because of change in law u