Point of Law: All shops, commercial establishments, offices, factories, workshops, godowns etc. shall close their operations. However, production and manufacturing units which require continuous process such as pharmaceuticals, API etc. may function. Further, manufacturing units engaged in production of essential commodities like dal and rice mills, food and related units, dairy units, feed and fodder units etc. will also be permitted to operate

ORDER :

Out of the above Writ Petitions, Writ Petition Nos.7130, 7148, 7168, 7183, 7189, 7192, 7202, 7207, 7208, 7310, 7313, 7363, 7376, , 7462, 7466, 7478, 7531, 7540, 7724, 7811, 8001, 8011, 8019, 8116, 8712, 8725, 8742, 8881, 8891, 8897, 8923, 9204, 9232, 9424, 9443, 9458, 9531, 9599, 9671, 9702, 9899, 11413 and 13885 of 2020 relate to challenging the action of respondent Nos.2 to 4 in not collecting maximum demand charges for the month of April, 2020 on pro-rata basis viz., working and nonworking periods (closure days) as highly illegal and arbitrary.

2. Whereas, Writ Petition Nos.7185, 7236, 7237, 7240, 7465, 7480, 7550, 7552, 7682, 7778, 8025, 8146, 8307, 8521, 8621, 8648, 8914, 8959, 9108, 9216, 9230, 9233 and 9582 of 2020 relate to challenging the action of respondents in levying and demanding the amount under various head as wholly illegal and arbitrary.

3. CONTENTIONS OF THE PETITIONERS (MAXIMUM):

(i) All the petitioners in the above writ petitions are Companies/Partnership Firms/Proprietary concerns. They are Manufacturing Units/Commercial Establishments. All the petitioners have obtained High Tension (HT) Service Connections from the respondents’ authorities with a contracted maximum demand. The connection numbers and the contracted maximum demand of the petitioners have specifically mentioned in the respective affidavits, and there is no dispute with regard to the same.

(ii) The Telangana State Electricity Regulation Commission (TSERC) has approved the general terms and conditions of the licenses w.e.f. 01.01.2006;

(iii) Due to COVID-19, pandemic, both the Central and the State Governments have issued various orders from time to time declaring the lockdown of various activities including industrial activity/commercial activity under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (for short ‘Act, 2005’). On account of the said mandatory orders, according to the petitioners, they have closed down their industrial operations and commercial activities w.e.f. 23.03.2020. The said lockdown restrictions were extended from time to time by both the Central and State Governments.

(iv) Due to the said lockdown restrictions imposed by the Central and State Governments on account of COVID-19 pandemic, the petitioners herein could not operate its industrial activities/commercial activities. There are penal provisions in the proceedings issued by the State and Central Governments and, therefore, the petitioners were compelled to close down its industrial activities and Units.

(v) All the petitioners being subjected to Twin Part Tariff System (TPTS) i.e., maximum demand charges and energy charges.

(vi) For the consumption month of April, 2020, the meter reading was taken by the Officials of the respondents’ authorities on 17.03.2020. But, 23.03.2020, on which date, the Central and State Governments have passed orders commencing the lockdown. During the said period, the recorded maximum demand was less than the contracted maximum demand.

(vii) Clause - 2.2.2.35 of the General Terms and Conditions of Supply (GTCS), deals with “Maximum Demand” which is as under:

“twice the maximum number of kilo volt - ampere hours (KVAH) delivered at the point of supply to the consumer during any consecutive 30 minutes during the month in respect of consumer having contracted demand of less than 4000 kVA. However, for the consumer having contracted demand of 4000 kVA and above the maximum demand means four times the maximum number of KVAH delivered at the point of supply to the consumer during any consecutive 15 minutes during the month.”

(viii) The meter provided by respondent No.2 in the petitioners’ Industrial Unites/Commercial Establishments records both maximum demand and energy used by the petitioners. The maximum demand is that it is four times the maximum number of KVAH at the point of supply to the consumer during any consecutive 15 minutes during the month in respect of the said consumer. Once it records a higher demand, the meter gets stuck up