IN THE APPELLATE TRIBUNAL FOR ELECTRICITY (Appellate Jurisdiction)

APPEAL No.75 OF 2023 Dated: 14.07.2025 Present: Hon’ble Mr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Technical Member Hon’ble Mr. Virender Bhat, Judicial Member In the matter of:

M/s. Sneha Kinetic Power Projects Private Limited Through its Authorized Representative, 15^th Floor, Hindustan Times Building, 18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi, 110001 Phone: 011-47099999 Email: delhi.office@skvlawoffices.com … Appellant Versus

1. Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission Through its Secretary, Bays No. 33-36, Sector 4, Panchkula, Haryana-134112 Phone: 0172-2582531 Email: secretary.herc@nic.in

2. Haryana Power Purchase Centre Through its Chief Engineer, 2^nd Floor, Shakti Bhawan, Sector- 6, Panchkula, Haryana-134109 Phone: 0172-2586836 Email: cehppc@uhbvn.org.in; cehppc@gmail.com … Respondents Counsel for the Appellant(s) : Sanjay Sen, Sr. Adv.

Parinay Deep Shah Shikha Ohri Alisha Gaba Counsel for the Respondent(s) : Raghujeet Singh Madan Sonia Madan Nitin Goyal Aditya Singh Aditi Lakhanpal Ayushi Garg for Res. 2 J U D G M E N T PER HON’BLE MR. VIRENDER BHAT, JUDICIAL MEMBER

1. The appellant, M/s Sneha Kinetic Power Projects Private Limited is aggrieved by the order dated 02.03.2022 passed by 1^st respondent Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”) whereby appellant’s petition seeking clarifications with regards to certain clauses of the draft Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) issued by the 2^nd respondent Haryana Power Purchase Centre has been rejected. The appellant had raised objections to certain clauses of the draft PPA which did not find favour with the Commission.

2. A brief conspectus of the facts and circumstance giving rise to the instant appeal is noted hereinbelow.

3. The 2^nd respondent Haryana Power Purchase Centre (hereinafter referred to as “HPPC”) had issued an invitation of Expression of Interest (EoI) for long-term procurement of 500MW hydropower from generators for a period of 35 years subject to levelized ceiling tariff to be indicated by the generator who applies for part capacity reflected in the said EoI.

4. The appellant emerged as one of the successful bidders against the said EoI floated by HPPC with regards to the capacity of 96MW from its Dikchu Hydro Electric Project, Dikchu village, Sikkim along with M/s GMR Bajoli (60MW) and M/s JSW Kutehr (240MW) through competitive bidding.

5. Accordingly, HPPC filed a petition bearing case No.54/2019 seeking approval of the Commission to source 400MW hydropower from the power projects selected through competitive bidding in pursuance to the EoI floated on 03.07.2018. It appears that vide order dated 05.08.2020 passed in the said petition, the Commission delinked the appellant’s project on account of lack of sufficient hydrological data including pondage which was an essential criterion stipulated in the EoI dated 03.07.2018. The petition was disposed off by the Commission on 24.09.2020 thereby approving procurement of power only from two sources i.e. M/s JSW Kutehr and M/s GMR Bajoli.

6. Subsequently, vide order dated 29.04.2021, the Commissoin granted source approval of HPPC for procurement of power from the appellant’s power project and further directed HPPC to consider the appellant as L1 bidder as per the original evaluation.

7. Thereafter, in May, 2021 HPPC issued the draft PPA. The appellant found certain terms and conditions of the draft PPA not in consonance with the EoI dated 03.07.2018 and therefore needing revision. The appellant sent a letter dated 26.06.2021 to HPPC highlighting the variations in the draft PPA and seeking corrections / clarifications. Since, it did not receive any favourbale response from HPPC, it approached the Commission with the petition No.41/2021 which has been rejected vide impugned order dated

02.03.2022.

8. Thus, the appellant is before us in this appeal.

9. We have heard learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant and learned counsel appearing