The Regulatory Commission possesses jurisdiction under Section 94 of the Electricity Act to summon documents necessary for determining fair transfer prices, prioritizing public interest.

JUDGMENT :

Per, Shree Chandrashekhar, J.

M/s. South West Mining Limited (SWML) which was nominated as the Mining Development Operator (MDO) for undertaking the mining operations for the Barmer Lignite Mining Company Limited (BLMCL) is aggrieved by the judgment pronounced by the writ Court on 31^st August 2023 in S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.8291 of 2023. By the said judgment, the challenge laid by the appellant-company to the orders passed by the RERC and/or the communication made to it on 21^st April 2023, 25^th April 2023, 1^st May 2023, 23^rd May 2023, 24^th May 2023 and 30^th May 2023 was rejected by the writ Court.

2. Before the writ Court, the orders passed by the RERC were challenged by the appellant-company primarily on the ground of jurisdiction of the RERC to issue directions to it to disclose its confidential informations pertaining to the mining expenses incurred by it. The main prayer made on behalf of the appellant- company was formulated thus :

“(i) By an appropriate writ, order or directions, the impugned orders/communications/summons dated 21.4.2023, 25.4.2023, (Annexure-4), 1.5.2023 (Annexure-5), 23.5.2023 (Annexure-6), 24.05.2023 (Annexure-7) & 30.5.2023 (Annexure-8) passed by the respondents, qua the Petitioner, may be declared, without authority of law, non-est, arbitrary and illegal and may kindly be quashed and set aside with all consequential directions”.

3. Objecting to the challenge laid to the orders passed by the RERC, the JdVVNL raised a question to maintainability of the writ petition in view of the alternative statutory remedy of appeal available to the appellant-company under section 111 of the Electricity Act. In support of its own orders, the RERC joined hands with the JdVVNL and the decision in “Than Singh Nathmal v. Superintendent of Taxes”, (1946) 6 SCR 654 was pressed into service on behalf of these respondents. To support the directions issued by the RERC, it was contended before the writ Court that the mining expenses incurred by the appellant-company would have significant impact on the overall transfer pricing of the Lignite and that shall have a consequential effect to fix the final rate of electricity and a reference to the judgments in “Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. v. Tarini Infrastructure Ltd. & Ors.”, (2016) 8 SCC 743 “Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. v. Solar Semiconductor Power Co. (India) (P) Ltd. & Anr.”, (2017) 16 SCC 498 and “Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. v. Renew Wind Energy (Rajkot) Private Limited & Ors.”, Civil Appeal Nos.3480-3481 of 2020 decided on 13.04.2023 was made on behalf of the RERC and the JdVVNL which are the respondent nos.1 & 3. However, on behalf of the BLMCL it was contended that seeking information from the mining contractor for prudence check of the actual expenditure incurred in mining operations for assessing the transfer price of the Lignite would be contrary to law and beyond the powers of the RERC under section 94 of the Electricity Act.

4. A Lignite Mining Power Generation Project as envisaged by the Government of Rajasthan in 1996 and a Consortium of the appellant-company, JSW Energy Limited and Raj West Power Limited was formed for the Project and the Consortium so formed on 28^th February 2006 was approved by the Government of Rajasthan on 07^th March 2006. The Barmer Lignite Mining Company Limited which is a Government company incorporated for the specific purpose of development and operation of Kapurdi and Jalipa Lignite Mining Blocks in the Barmer district of Rajasthan is the mining leaseholder of those mining blocks. The Raj West Power Limited now known as JSW Energy (Barmer) Limited is a Lignite-based thermal power generating company which receives the Lignite mined from Kapurdi and Jalipa mining blocks from the BLMCL and it supplies the electricity generated by it to the Distribution licensees including the JdVVNL in the State of Rajasthan at the rate fixed by the RERC. On 29^th May 2006, an Implementation Agreement was entered into between the Government of