The court emphasized that electric transmission lines serve a higher public interest, and unilateral alterations by the petitioner to WTG locations are impermissible without approval.

ORDER :

M. Nagaprasanna, J.

The petitioner is at the doors of this Court seeking the following reliefs:

“i. Issue a writ order or direction of mandamus or in the nature of mandamus directing the Respondent to re-route the Extra High Voltage ("EHV") Lines without interrupting any work, erections, etc. within the distance of 227 meters of the Petitioner's land parcels as per Ministry of New and Renewable Energy ("MNRE") Guidelines at WTG Locations as per coordinates morefully detailed in the map/sketch (Annexure-R)

ii. Issue a writ order or direction of certiorari or in the nature of certiorari quashing and setting aside the letters dated 01/04/2025 number reference bearing by SRTS- II/PKGT L/Gadag TLC/2024-25/273 (Annexure- S), the letter dated 07/02/2025 bearing reference number PKGTL-Gadag/TLC/Torrent/255 (Annexure-P) sent Respondent to the Petitioner asking to relocate the WTG Locations along with the connected communication dated 06/02/2025 (Annexure-N);

iii. Issue a writ order or direction of mandamus or in the nature of mandamus restraining the Respondent from issuing any directions to, or otherwise in any manner seeking to compel a change in the WTG Locations and further restrain the Respondent from in any manner interfering with the business and activities/Project of the Petitioner; and iv. Pass such orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present writ petition.”

2. Facts in brief, germane, are as follows:

2.1. The petitioner - Torrent Solar Power Pvt. Ltd., (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Company’ for short) is a Company established in the year 2020, as an integrated power utility, having its business or interest in power generation, transmission, distribution and supply of power cables and operates wind power generation projects at various places. The respondent is the Power Grid Koppal Gadag Transmission Ltd., (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Power Grid’ for short) a wholly owned subsidiary of the Power Grid Corporation of India. Power Grid is incorporated as a special purpose vehicle of the Government of India for transmission. In the years 2021-2022, the petitioner is said to have conducted a deliberation with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for setting of 300.3 MW. Wind power project, which is proposed to be established in the villages of Yalaburga and Koppal Taluk of Koppal District. After the deliberations, it transpires that the petitioner submits an application to the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) as per the MNRE guidelines, requesting for allotment of 300.3 MW. wind power project under the Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) category at various places.

2.2. Pursuant to the said deliberation, the petitioner is said to have prepared a detailed project report for the project for the purpose of enquiry or investigation into the feasibility of the project and is submitted to KREDL. The particulars of the locations and the project including the latitude and longitude of the land requirement, the tentative survey numbers, the tentative village names, the height of the wind mast for each proposed site and the tentative project schedule are said to have been submitted by the petitioner.

2.3. The Government, in terms of its order dated 23-02-2022, accorded an in-principle approval to the project of the petitioner by issuance of a Government order, pursuant to which, the petitioner enters into an agreement with KREDL, agreeing to complete the project by 22-02-2028. Between 27-04-2023 and 29-11-2023, the petitioner secured conversion of agricultural lands into non-agricultural purposes, a