In the matter of:

Petition under Section 79(1)(c) and (f) of the Electricity Act, 2003 read with the CERC (Connectivity and General Network Access to the inter-State Transmission System) Regulations, 2022 together with subsequent amendments thereto and the Procedure for Grant of Temporary General Network Access (T-GNA) to the inter-State Transmission System through National Open Access Registry (NOAR), seeking setting aside of the untenable and unwarranted conditions placed by TP Central Odisha Distribution Limited on the grant of NoC to Jindal Steel Limited for onward supply of power on the ISTS and against obstruction to grant of open access/ standing clearance for short-term power trading by Jindal Steel Limited’s Angul plant.

And

In the matter of:

Jindal Steel Limited (JSL)

(Formerly known as Jindal Steel & Power Limited)

O.P. Jindal Marg, Hisar– 125005 , Haryana............... Petitioner

Versus

1. TP Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL)

Power House Square, Unit-8,

Bhubaneswar– 751012, Odisha. ………. Respondent No. 1

2. Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (OPTCL)

OPTCL TECH TOWER Janpath,

Saheed Nagar, Bhubaneswar- 751007,

Orissa. ………. Respondent No. 2

3. Grid Controller of India Limited (Grid-India)

1st floor, B-9, Qutub Institutional Area,

Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi – 110016. ………. Respondent No. 3

4. Odisha State Load Despatch Centre (Odisha SLDC)

Mancheswar, Bhubaneswar751017, Odisha- ………. Respondent No. 4

Parties Present:

Shri Gopal Jain, Sr. Advocate, JSL

Shri Vishrov Mukerjee, Advocate, JSL

Shri Yashawi Kant, Advocate, JSL

Ms. Priyanka Vyas, Advocate, JSL

Shri Pranav Sood, Advocate, JSL

Ms. Pankhuri Gupta, Advocate, JSL

Shri Shashwat Kumar, Advocate, JSL

Shri Manish Kharbanda, Advocate, JSL

Shri Aditya Sondhi, Sr. Advocate, TPCODL

Shri Anand Shrivastava, Advocate, TPCODL

Shri Ravi Nair, Advocate, TPCODL

Shri Chetan Saxena, Advocate, TPCODL

Ms. Janhavi Johar, Advocate, TPCODL

Ms. Devika Dhawan, Advocate, TPCODL

Shri Anubhav Kumar, Advocate, TPCODL

Shri Sitesh Mukerjee, Sr. Advocate, OPTCL

Shri Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra, Advocate, OPTCL

Shri Tribhuvan, Advocate, OPTCL

Shri Sugam Kumar Jha, Advocate, Odisha SLDC

Shri Sreedass KP, Advocate, Odisha SLDC

Shri Raghav Tandon, Advocate, Odisha SLDC

ORDER

Through the instant Petition, the Petitioner, Jindal Steel Limited, has sought direction to Odisha SLDC to grant Standing Clearance under the NOAR/ Grant of Temporary General Network Access (T-GNA) framework for its Angul plant without insisting on DISCOM consent, under Section 79(1)(c) and (f) of the Electricity Act, 2003 (in short ‘the Act’) read with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Connectivity and General Network Access to the inter-State Transmission System) Regulations, 2022. The Petitioner has made the following prayers in the present Petition:

a) Hold and declare that the insistence on DISCOM consent/ NOC as a mandatory pre-condition for the grant of Standing Clearance/ T-GNA to the Petitioner is ultra vires the CERC GNA Regulations and the NOAR Procedure, and hence unsustainable;

b) Direct Respondent No. 3 to process and give effect to the Petitioner’s Standing Clearance request for the month of May 2026 without insisting on DISCOM consent as pre-condition;

c) Set aside the conditions imposed by Respondent No. 1 as pre-condition to grant of its consent as arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal;

d) Direct Respondent No. 1 not to withhold its NOC/ consent for May 2026 and subsequent months on the basis of the non-fulfilment of the extraneous conditions put forth in its email dated 31.03.2026, i.e., (i) execution of the pending agreements for providing a new connection of 20 MVA to JSOL; and (ii) arrangement of emergency power supply for ACPP-II; and

e) Pass such other order(s) as this Hon’ble Commission may deem fit in the facts and circumstances of the present case.”

Interim Relief prayers in the main Petition:

a) Direct that the Petitioner’s request for Standing Clearance for the month of May 2026 be processed and allowed in