The court held that the petitioner should continue to pay 50% of the demand made towards the deemed demand charges till the disposal of the writ appeal by the Division Bench.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 05.01.2022

C O R A M

THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE KRISHNAN RAMASAMY

W.P.NO.14286 OF 2017

AND

W.M.P.NOS.15480 TO 15482 OF 2017

The Pongalur Pioneer Textiles P.Ltd.,

HTSC No.236,

8, Sundaram Apartments,

83, Race Course Road,

Coimbatore – 641 018,

Rep. by its authorized Signatory,

K.Nagarajan.

... Petitioner

.Vs.

1. The Chairman,

The Tamil Nadu Generation and

Distribution Corporation Limited,

(TANGEDCO),

144, Anna Salai,

Chennai - 600 002.

2. The Chief Financial Controller/Revenue,

TANGEDCO,

144, Anna Salai,

Chennai - 600 002.

3. The Superintending Engineer,

TANGEDCO Ltd.,

Tirupur Electricity Distribution Circle,

Tirupur.

4. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission,

Rep. by its Secretary,

No.19A, Rukmani Lakshmipathy Salai,

Egmore, Chennai - 600 008.

... Respondents

PRAYER:-

Writ Petition filed under Section 226 of the Constitution

of India, prayed for the issuance of Writ of Certiorari, calling

https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/

for the records of the 2^nd respondent contained in impugned

letter No.CFC/FC/DFC/AAO.HT/AS.3/REV/D.N.115/13 dated 29.07.2013

and quash the same as arbitrary, illegal and violative of the

provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 and the orders of the

TNERC.

For Petitioner :

Mr.R.S.Pandiyaraj

For Respondents :

Mr.Abdul Kalam

Standing Counsel

For R1 to R3

No appearance

For R4

ORDER

This writ petition has been filed aggrieved by the

withdrawal of the concession of the deemed demand charges

extended to the petitioner by the respondents.

2. This issue was considered by the learned single Judge of

this Court and similar impugned orders were quashed by this

Court. Aggrieved by the same, the respondents have preferred an

appeal and the same is pending in W.A.Nos.2539 & 2540 of 2018.

3. The Division Bench while entertaining the writ appeal

directed the concerned parties to pay 50% of the demand made

pursuant to the issuance of the impugned order. The relevant

portions in the order passed by the Division Bench are extracted

hereunder:

"6. This court has carefully considered the

rival submissions and also perused the materials

placed. In the light of the stand taken by the

Tamilnadu Electricity Regulatory Commission in the

counter affidavit in paragraph No.14 in W.P.No.28256

of 2014 etc., batch of writ petitions, coupled with

the decision of the said Commission, vide the order

dated 31.03.2016 in R.A.No.6 of 2013, this Court is

of the considered view that prima facie case has

been made out for grant of interim orders.

7. Hence, there shall be an order of interim

stay as prayed for till 17.12.2018. It is also

brought to the notice of this Court by the learned

Advocate General that during the pendency of the

writ petitions interim stay has been granted subject

https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/

to the condition that the writ petitioners pay 50%

of the amount demanded within a stipulated time.

8. Therefore, in the light of the above facts

and circumstances, and reasons assigned above, this

Court is of the considered view that the same

arrangement shall continue till the disposal of the

writ appeals for the reason that appellant in the

event of success in these appeals may not be able to

recover it and there may be possibility of

respondents/writ petitioners to wind up operations

due to vagaries of business or other reasons.

Therefore, without prejudice to the rights and

contentions, the first respondents/writ petitioners

shall continue to pay 50% of the demand made as per

the impugned orders/demand, the subject matter of

challege in the writ petitions, within a period of

two weeks from the date of each demand. It is also

made clear that the amount collected by virtue of

the interim order in the writ petitions as well as

in these writ appeals, by the