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IN THE APPELLATE TRIBUNAL FOR ELECTRICITY

AT NEW DELHI

(APPELLATE JURISDICTION)

APPEAL NO. 212 OF 2016

&

IA NOs. 459 & 525 of 2016

Dated: 7^th November, 2017

Present: Hon’ble Mrs. Justice Ranjana P. Desai, Chairperson

Hon’ble Mr. I.J. Kapoor, Technical Member

In the matter of:-

MARUTI CLEAN COAL AND POWER

LIMITED,

Registered office:

Ward No. 42, Building No. 14, Civil

Lines

Near Income Tax Colony, Raipur,

Chhattisgarh – 492001

Corporate office: 7^th Floor,

Ambience Mall, office Tower,

Ambience Mall, NH – 8, Gurgaon –

122002

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

)

) … Appellant (s)

AND

1. POWER GRID CORPORATION OF

INDIA LIMITED

b-9, Qutab Institutional Area,

Katwaria Sarai,

New Delhi - 110016

)

)

)

)

)

2. CENTRAL

ELECTRICITY

REGULATORY COMMISSION

3^rd and 4^th Floor,

Chanderlok Building,

36, Janpath,

New Delhi - 110001

)

)

)

)

)

) …Respondent (s)

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Counsel for the Appellant(s)

:

Mr. Abhinav Vasisht, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Sumit Goell

Mr. Tanuj Agarwal

Ms. Priya Chauhan

Ms. Sonal Gupta

Counsel for the Respondent(s)

:

Mr. Sitesh Mukherjee

Mr. Gautam Chawla

Mr. Deep Rao

Ms. Pragya Vatts for R.1

Mr. Alok Shankar

Mr. Sourav Jena for R.2

J U D G M E N T

PER HON’BLE (SMT.) JUSTICE RANJANA P. DESAI - CHAIRPERSON:

1.

The Appellant is a company registered under the Companies

Act, 1956. The Appellant is a long term access customer which is

an independent power producer who had applied for and was

granted long term access by Respondent No.1 from its generating

station near Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh. The Appellant is also a

designated inter-state transmission system customer in terms of

Section 2(1)(1) of the CERC (Sharing of Inter State Transmission

Charges and Losses) Regulations, 2010 (“Sharing Regulations”).

Respondent

No.1

is

Power

Grid

Corporation

of

India

Limited(“PGCIL”) which is a Government of India Enterprise

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undertaking transmission related works and notified as a Central

Transmission Utility under Section 38 of the Electricity Act,

2003(“the said Act”). As per Regulation 4 and Regulation 2(1)(q)

of the CERC (Grant of Connectivity, Long Term Access and

Medium Term Open Access in Inter State Transmission and

related matters) Regulations, 2009 (“Connectivity Regulations”),

PGCIL is also nodal agency for grant of long term access to inter-

state transmission system. Respondent No.2 is Central

Electricity Regulatory Commission (“the CERC”) whose order

dated 09/08/2016 passed in Petition No.79/MP/2016 is

challenged in this appeal.

2. Gist of the facts as stated in the petition is as under:

(a) The Appellant had made an application to

PGCIL

seeking

Long

Term

Open

Access(“LTOA”) for transfer of 300 MW to be

generated from its generating plant coming up

in the State of Chhattisgarh. By letter dated

29/07/2009 PGCIL permitted LTOA to the

Appellant for 300 MW with requirement of

additional system strengthening. Open access

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was permitted for 25 years from the date of

commencement of open access. The point of

injection of power was mentioned as WR

Pooling Station (Bilaspur) for Chhattisgarh

IPPs.

(b)

By a separate letter dated 29/07/2009 PGCIL

enclosed the intimation letter for providing

LTOA and requested the Appellant to initial the

Bulk Power Transmission Agreement (“BPTA”),

a draft of which was attached to the letter and

it was also requested that an undertaking to

sign requisite BPTA upon its approval by the

CERC be provided.

(c)

On 24/02/2010 the BPTA was entered into

between PGCIL and the Appellant and other

generating companies as envisaged under

Connectivity

Regulations

whereby

PGCIL

agreed to provide such open access required by

long term transmission customers from the

date

and

in

the

manner

mentioned

in

annexures to the agreement for a period of 25

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years. Under the BPTA, Long Term Access

(“LTA”) was granted to the Appellant for 171

MW (i.e. 126(WR) and 45(N