APPELLATE TRIBUNAL FOR ELECTRICITY AT NEW DELHI (APPELLATE JURISDICTION)

Appeal No. 20 of 2015 and Appeal No. 21 of 2015 Dated : 26.05.2022 Present: Hon’ble Mr. Justice R. K. Gauba, Officiating Chairperson Hon’ble Mr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Technical Member IN THE MATTER OF:

West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited Vidyut Bhavan, Block DJ, Sector – II, Bidhannagar, Kolkata – 700091. .… Appellant (s)

Versus West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission FD – 415 A, Poura Bhawan, 3^rd Floor, Sector – III, Bidhannagar, Kolkata – 700106. .… Respondent(s)

Counsel for the Appellant (s) : Mr. M. G. Ramachandran, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Hemant Sahai Mr. Anand K. Srivastava Mr. Tushar Srivastava Ms. Molshree Bhatnagar Ms. Shefali Tripathi Mr. Neelkandan Rahate Mr. Ishan Mukherjee Ms. Anushree Bardhan Ms. Meghana Aggarwal Mr. Shubham Arya Ms. Shruti Dass Ms. Poorva Saigal Mr. Mazag Andrabi Mr. Abhishek Kumar Mr. Sakya Singh Chaudhary Mr. Avijeet Lala Ms. Isha Shekhar Counsel for the Respondent (s) : Mr. Pratik Dhar, Sr. Adv.

Mr. C. K. Rai Mr. S. Vallinayagam Mr. Sumit Panwar Mr. Paramhans Sahani Mr. Sachin Dubey Mr. Mohit Rai Mr. Umesh Prasad Ms. Babita Sant for R-1

J U D G M E N T

Per Hon’ble Mr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Technical Member

1. The two captioned appeals have been filed by the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (in short “Appellant” or “WBSETCL” or “transmission Licensee”) having grievances against the Annual Performance Review (APR) orders passed by the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (herein after “State Commission”, or “WBERC”)

2. The Appeal No. 20 of 2015 has been filed by the Appellant assailing the Order dated 10.06.2014 (“Impugned Order 1”) passed by the State Commission in review petition no. APR (R)-1/12-13 against order dated

19.10.2012 in Case No. APR-26/11-12.

3. The Appellant, being aggrieved by the State Commission order dated 09.09.2013 (“Impugned Order 2”) in petition no. APR-32/12-13 and order dated 10.06.2014 (“Impugned Order 1”) in petition no. APR(R)-4/13-

14, filed the second captioned appeal being appeal no. 21 of 2015.

Parties in both the Appeals

4. The Appellant, West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd., was incorporated as a public limited company under the Companies Act 1956 on 16.02.2007 and vested with the function of the Transmission Load Despatch in the State of West Bengal under the West Bengal Power Sector Reforms Transfer Scheme, 2007 Formulated by the Government of West Bengal under Section 131 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”). WBSETCL was also designated as the State Transmission Utility in the state of West Bengal and is a deemed transmission licensee under the second proviso of Section 14 of the Act.

5. The Respondent, West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission is a statutory body set up under the provisions of the Electricity Regulatory Commission Act, 1998 (14 of 1998), presently vested powers and functions as defined under the Electricity Act, 2003.

6. The issues under challenge are common in the two captioned appeals and are as follows:

A) Appeal no. 20 of 2015 (i) Rate of interest on Working Capital and (ii) Incentive B) Appeal no. 21 of 2015 (i) Interest on Normative Loan, (ii) Interest on Normative Working Capital, and (iii) Advance against Depreciation.

7. The Respondent Commission conceded to revisit the claims of the Appellant under item no. (i) & (ii) of the Appeal no. 21 of 2015 as such only issues pertaining to item no. (i) & (ii) in the first captioned appeal and item no.

(iii) of the second captioned appeal are under adjudication.

8. However, the Respondent Commission, in addition to above issues, also challenged the captioned appeals on the grounds of maintainability. It was submitted that these appeals have been filed, challenging the orders passed on 10.06.2014, for both the appeals through separate orders, in review petitions being petition no. APR (R)-1/12-13 and APR (R)-4/13-14 filed by the Appellan