I.A. Ansari, J.

1. By this common judgment and order, I propose to dispose of this set of the writ petitions inasmuch as all these writ petitions, having raised, substantially, same questions of law, have been heard together. These cases are slightly unusual; it is unusual, because, ordinarily, the facts of a case, in a judgment, are first narrated in order to appreciate, correctly, the application of the law, which may have a bearing on the given case. In the cases at hand, however, several common questions of law have been raised and if the answers to the questions, so raised, are settled, it would become easier to determine the application of law governing the cases involved in this set of writ petitions. Keeping this end in view, let me, first, formulate the common questions of law, which have been raised in these writ petitions. The questions are:

(i) Whether the Assam State Electricity Board ('the Board') has, under the law, continued to function, or can be said to have continued to function, beyond 9.6.2004, as a State Transmission Utility as well as Licensee as defined under the Electricity Act, 2003 ('2003 Act')?

(ii) Whether the Board is, under the law, competent to