IA No. 1830 OF 2020 IN DFR No. 462 of 2020

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IN THE APPELLATE TRIBUNAL FOR ELECTRICITY

(Appellate Jurisdiction)

IA No. 1830 OF 2020 IN DFR No. 462 of 2020 &

IA No. 1832 OF 2020

Dated : 12^th August, 2021

Present : Hon`ble Mrs. Justice Manjula Chellur, Chairperson

Hon`ble Mr. Ravindra Kumar Verma, Technical Member

In the matter of:

1.

2.

3.

Amreli Power Projects Ltd.,

Represented by Authorised Signatory

10th Floor, Sangeeta Complex,

Near Parimal Crossing, Ellisbridge,

Ahmedabad - 380006, Gujarat

Bhavnagar Biomass Power Projects Pvt.

Ltd.

Represented by Authorised Signatory

10th Floor, Sangeeta Complex,

Nr. Parimal Crossing, Ellisbridge,

Ahmedabad - 380006, Gujarat

Junagadh Power Projects Pvt. Ltd.

Represented by Authorised Signatory

10th Floor, Sangeeta Complex,

Near Parimal Crossing, Ellisbridge,

Ahmedabad - 380006, Gujarat

…Appellant No.1

…Appellant No.2

…Appellant No.3

VERSUS

1.

Gujarat

Electricity

Regulatory

Commission

Through its Secretary,

6^th Floor, GIFT ONE, Road 5C,

Zone 5, GIFT City,

Gandhinagar – 382355, Gujarat, India.

...Respondents No. 1

2.

Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd.

Through its Managing Director,

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Sardar Patel Vidyut Bhawan,

Race Course Road,

Vadodra, 390007.

...Respondents No. 2

Counsel for the Appellant(s) :

Mr. Amit Kapur

Ms. Poonam Verma

Mr. Saunak Kumar Rajguru

Ms. Adishree Chakraborty

Ms. Aparajita Upadhyay

Ms. Sakshi Kapoor

Ms. Noor Shergil

Mr. Pratibhanu Singh

Counsel for the Respondent(s) :

Mrs. Suparna Srivastava for R-1

Ms. Ranjitha Ramachandran

Ms. Poorva Saigal

Ms. Anushree Bardhan

Mr. Shubham Arya

Ms. Tanya Sareen

Mr. Arvind Kumar Dubey for R-2

ORDER

PER HON’BLE MR. RAVINDRA KUMAR VERMA, TECHNICAL

MEMBER

1. Proceedings

of

this matter

are

conducted

through

video

conferencing.

2. The instant Application has been filed by the Applicants/Appellants

along with Appeal under DFR No. 462 of 2020 for condonation of 967

days delay in filing the instant Appeal. The present Appeal is filed

under Section 111 of Electricity Act, 2003 against the Order dated

15.03.2018 in OP No. 01 of 2018 in ‘Determination of Tariff for

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Procurement of Power by the Distribution Licensees and Others from

Biomass based Power Projects and Bagasse based Co-generation

Projects for Control Period upto FY 2019-20 passed by the Gujarat

State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

3. After hearing the learned counsel on both sides and also going

through the written submissions filed by them our opinion is given in

following paragraphs.

4. The instant application has been filed by the Applicants/Appellants

for condonation of 967 days delay in filing the instant appeal. The

issue in appeal is regarding determination of tariff and procurement

of power by distribution licensees and others from Biomass based

power projects and bagasse based co-generation projects for control

period upto FY 2019-20 passed by the Gujarat State Electricity

Regulatory Commission. The Applicants/Appellants owns a biomass

power plant which it acquired much after the bar of limitation came

into effect from the erstwhile promoters after 29.04.2018 (i.e. the date

when the 45 day period to file the appeal ended). Before that the

plants had remained shut for a prolonged period (over 5 years

between 2013-2018) due to litigations. The case of the

Applicants/Appellants is that it acquired the plants from the promoters

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after the 45 days period to file the appeal had ended. The

Applicants/Appellants has explained that it took time for the

Applicants/Appellants to gather the operational experience by

operating the plant for some time an