Antony Dominic, J.

1. In these batch of wit petitions, the issue that is raised is the validity of the appointment of the appellate authority, made under Section 127 of the Electricity Act, 2003 read with Appeal to the Appellate Authority Rules, 2004. Section 127 of the Electricity Act, provides for Appeal to the Appellate Authority.

This section reads thus:

"127. Appeal to appellate authority-

(1) Any person aggrieved by a final order made under Section 126 may, within thirty days of the said order, prefer an appeal in such form, verified in such manner and be accompanied by such fee as may be specified by the State Commission, to an appellate authority as may be prescribed.

(2) No appeal against an order of assessment under sub-section (1) shall be entertained unless an amount equal to half of the assessed amount is deposited in cash or by way of bank draft with the lincesee and documentary evidence of such deposit has been enclosed along with the appeal.

(3) The appellate authority referred to in sub-section (1) shall dispose of the appeal after hearing the parties and pass appropriate order and send copy of the order to the assessing officer and the appellant.

(4) The order of appellate authority referred to in sub- section (1) passed under sub-section (3) shall be final.

(5) No appeal shall lie to the appellate authority referred to in sub-section (1) against the final order made with the consent of the parties.

(6) when a person defaults in making payment of assessed amount, he, in addition to the assessed amount shall be liable to pay, on the expiry of thirty days from the date of order of assessment, an amount of interest at the rate of sixteen per cent per annum compounded every six months."

2. The Appeal to the Appellate Authority Rules, 2004 were framed by the Central Government in exercise of its powers under Section 176(2) of the Electricity Act, 2003. Rule 3 of the Appeal to the Appellate Authority Rules, 2004 provides thus:

"3. Appellate Authority - For the purpose of appeal under Section 127, the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute an Appellate Authority consisting of one more persons such that one of the persons shall have knowledge of matters related to assessment of electricity charges and none of them shall be directly related to the affairs of the territorial jurisdiction of the licensee or supplier of the electricity." (emphasis supplied)

3. Reading of Section 127 of the Act in the light of Rule 3 of the Appellate Authority Rules show that any person aggrieved by a final order made under Section 126 providing for assessment, may within 30 days of the order, prefer an appeal in the prescribed manner and accompanied by such fee as may be specified by the State Commission. Under Section 127(2) of the Act, no appeal filed under Section 127(1) of the Act shall be entertained unless an amount equal to half of the assessed amount is deposited with the licencee and documentary evidence is enclosed along with the appeal.

4. Rule 3 of the Appellate Authority Rules, 2004 specifically mandates that the appointment shall be by a notification in the official gazette and that the appellate authority shall consist of one or more persons such that one of the persons shall have knowledge of matters related to the assessment of electricity charges. It is further provided that none of the persons who constituted the Appellate Authority "shall be directly related to the affairs of the territorial jurisdiction of the licencee or supplier of the electricity." The term licencee has been defined in Section 2(39) of the Electricity Act, 2003 as the person who has been granted licence under Section 14 of the Act. Though the term 'supply' is defined in Section 2(70), the expression 'supplier' is not defined in the Act.

5. The language of the Rule 3 makes it clear that what is mandated is that the person or persons appointed as Appellate Authority as contemplated therein shall not be d