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APPELLATE TRIBUNAL FOR ELECTRICITY AT NEW DELHI

(APPELLATE JURISDICTION)

Appeal No. 20 of 2015

and

Appeal No. 21 of 2015

Dated : 26.05.2022

Present: Hon’ble Mr. Justice R. K. Gauba, Officiating Chairperson

Hon’ble Mr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Technical Member

IN THE MATTER OF:

West Bengal State Electricity

Transmission Company Limited

Vidyut Bhavan, Block DJ,

Sector – II, Bidhannagar,

Kolkata – 700091.

.… Appellant (s)

Versus

West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission

FD – 415 A, Poura Bhawan,

3^rd Floor, Sector – III,

Bidhannagar,

Kolkata – 700106.

.… Respondent(s)

Counsel for the Appellant (s) :

Mr. M. G. Ramachandran, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Hemant Sahai

Mr. Anand K. Srivastava

Mr. Tushar Srivastava

Ms. Molshree Bhatnagar

Ms. Shefali Tripathi

Mr. Neelkandan Rahate

Mr. Ishan Mukherjee

Ms. Anushree Bardhan

Ms. Meghana Aggarwal

Mr. Shubham Arya

Ms. Shruti Dass

Ms. Poorva Saigal

Mr. Mazag Andrabi

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Mr. Abhishek Kumar

Mr. Sakya Singh Chaudhary

Mr. Avijeet Lala

Ms. Isha Shekhar

Counsel for the Respondent (s) : Mr. Pratik Dhar, Sr. Adv.

Mr. C. K. Rai

Mr. S. Vallinayagam

Mr. Sumit Panwar

Mr. Paramhans Sahani

Mr. Sachin Dubey

Mr. Mohit Rai

Mr. Umesh Prasad

Ms. Babita Sant for R-1

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J U D G M E N T

Per Hon’ble Mr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Technical Member

1. The two captioned appeals have been filed by the West Bengal

State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (in short “Appellant” or

“WBSETCL” or “transmission Licensee”) having grievances against the

Annual Performance Review (APR) orders passed by the West Bengal

Electricity Regulatory Commission (herein after “State Commission”, or

“WBERC”)

2. The Appeal No. 20 of 2015 has been filed by the Appellant assailing

the Order dated 10.06.2014 (“Impugned Order 1”) passed by the State

Commission in review petition no. APR (R)-1/12-13 against order dated

19.10.2012 in Case No. APR-26/11-12.

3. The Appellant, being aggrieved by the State Commission order

dated 09.09.2013 (“Impugned Order 2”) in petition no. APR-32/12-13 and

order dated 10.06.2014 (“Impugned Order 1”) in petition no. APR(R)-4/13-

14, filed the second captioned appeal being appeal no. 21 of 2015.

Parties in both the Appeals

4. The Appellant, West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd.,

was incorporated as a public limited company under the Companies Act 1956

on 16.02.2007 and vested with the function of the Transmission Load

Despatch in the State of West Bengal under the West Bengal Power Sector

Reforms Transfer Scheme, 2007 Formulated by the Government of West

Bengal under Section 131 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to

as “the Act”). WBSETCL was also designated as the State Transmission

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Utility in the state of West Bengal and is a deemed transmission licensee

under the second proviso of Section 14 of the Act.

5. The Respondent, West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission is a

statutory body set up under the provisions of the Electricity Regulatory

Commission Act, 1998 (14 of 1998), presently vested powers and functions

as defined under the Electricity Act, 2003.

6. The issues under challenge are common in the two captioned appeals

and are as follows:

A) Appeal no. 20 of 2015

(i)

Rate of interest on Working Capital and

(ii) Incentive

B) Appeal no. 21 of 2015

(i)

Interest on Normative Loan,

(ii) Interest on Normative Working Capital, and

(iii) Advance against Depreciation.

7. The Respondent Commission conceded to revisit the claims of the

Appellant under item no. (i) & (ii) of the Appeal no. 21 of 2015 as such only

issues pertaining to item no. (i) & (ii) in the first captioned appeal and item no.

(iii) of the second captioned appeal are under adjudication.

8. However, the Respondent Commission, in addition to above issues,

also challenged the captioned appeals on the grounds of maintainability. It

was s