COURT-1 IN THE APPELLATE TRIBUNAL FOR ELECTRICITY (Appellate Jurisdiction) APL No. 409 OF 2022 Dated: 29^th April, 2025 Present : Hon`ble Mr. Justice Ramesh Ranganathan, Chairperson H on`ble Ms. Seema Gupta, Technical Member (Electricity)

In the matter of:

Hero Future Energies Private Limited Formerly Clean Solar Power (Hiriyur) Private Limited .... Appellant(s)

202, 1^st Floor, Okhla Industrial Phase-II, N ew Delhi – 110 020 Versus

1. The Secretary Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission No. 16, C-1, Millers Tank Bed Area, Vasanth Nagar, …. Respondent No.1 Bengaluru – 560 052 .

2. The Managing Director Hubli Electricity Supply Company Limited Corporate Office, Navanagar, P.B. Road Hubbali – 580 025 …. Respondent No.2

3. Managing Director Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited Regional Office Hubli, BVB College Campus, Vidya Nagar …. Respondent No.3 ESCPG Block, Hubballi – 580 031 Counsel on record for the Appellant(s) : Hemant Singh Mridul Chakravarty Biju Mattam Sourav Roy Lakshyajit Singh Bagdwal Harshit Singh Supriya Rastogi Agarwal Chetan Kumar Garg Ankita Bafna Nehul Sharma Pawan Singh Syed Fazl Askari Alchi Thapliyal Lavanya Panwar Sanjeev Singh Thakur Indrayudh Chowdhury Jay Lal Arun Lal Akashaya Lal Gaurav Prakash Pathak for App. 1 Counsel on record for the Respondent(s) : Darpan K.M.

for Res. 1 Shahbaaz Husain Fahad Khan Stephania Pinto Yeshwanth M Comar V.M. Kannan Harimohana. N Lalit Rajput for Res. 2 Sweta Ranjan Prashant Kumar Ray Vikram Nath Harshvardhan Jha Akshat Chaudhary for Res. 3

JUDGMENT

PER HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN, CHAIRPERSON I.INTRODUCTION:

This Appeal is filed, by the Appellant-Generator, aggrieved by the order passed by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (“KERC” for short) in OP No. 2 of 2017 dated 17.10.2017. The reliefs sought by the Appellant, in the present Appeal, are (1) to declare that the extension of 175 days, provided by the 2^nd Respondent for achieving the commissioning of the Solar Project (vide its letter dated 17.10.2014) and as recorded in the Supplementary Agreement dated 20.10.2014, is in terms of Article 5.7.2 of the PPA; (2) to declare that the Supplementary Agreement dated 20.10.2015, executed by the Appellant and the 2^nd Respondent, is deemed to have been approved by the KERC; and (3) to set aside the letter issued by the 2^nd Respondent dated 12.03.2020 claiming liquidated damages for Rs.12,05,00,000/- (Rupees Twelve Crore Five Lakhs only); and, consequently, direct the 2^nd Respondent to refund all amount/ money deducted by it towards Liquidated Damages pursuant to the impugned order dated 17.10.2017, including the amount/ money wrongfully withheld by the 2^nd Respondent from the monthly energy bills/ invoices raised by the Appellant since May 2019.

II.FACTS TO THE EXTENT RELEVANT:

Before taking note of contents of the impugned order, passed by the KERC in OP No. 2 of 2017 dated 17.10.2017, it is necessary to briefly take note of facts and events, leading upto the passing of the impugned order, to the extent relevant.

The Appellant executed a Power Purchase Agreement (”PPA” for short) with the 2^nd Respondent on 19.02.2014 which provided, among others, for resolution of disputes inter-se parties by arbitration. The 2^nd Respondent sought approval of the KERC with respect to the PPA executed by them on 19.02.2014. The KERC, by its proceedings dated 13.03.2014, granted approved to the PPA, subject to deletion of Article 18.4 of the PPA which was the arbitration clause. By the time the KERC granted approval on 13.03.2014, 22 days had expired since execution of PPA on 19.02.2014. The 2^nd Respondent herein communicated the approval granted by the KERC to the Appellant vide letter dated 29.03.2014, and called upon them to approach their office for modification of the PPA i.e. for deletion of the arbitration clause. It does not appear to be in dispute that this letter dated 29.03.2014, addressed by the 2^nd Respondent to the Appellant, was received by the Appellant