J U D G M E N T

PER HON’BLE DR. ASHUTOSH KARNATAK, TECHNICAL MEMBER BACKGROUND

1.0 The present appeal is filed by GSPL India Gasnet Limited herein referred to as “The Appellant” under Section 33 of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006 ( “PNGRB Act” ) praying that the following condition, as provided in para 6 of the PNGRB’s Letter Ref: Infra/PL/Monitoring/MBPL/04 dated 05 th December 2018, to be declared as arbitrary, void and illegal which states that “ with the condition that if the gas is supplied in the reverse direction in MBPL to Gujarat customers (i.e. from Pali towards Palanpur instead of flowing towards Bhatinda) then in such case, the transportation tariff will be lower of the following: - (i) calculated based on the quoted tariff for MBPL by following actual path of gas, and (ii) Tariff derived by considering 190 km Tie-in connectivity from RDG Barmer to GSPL’s Gujarat High Pressure network at Palanpur .” ( “Impugned Reverse Flow Tariff” )

2.0 F ACTS OF THE CASE

2.1 The Appellant is the Company incorporated by the consortium of Gujarat State Petronet Limited (“ GSPL ”), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (“ HPCL ”), Indian Oil Company Limited (“ IOCL ”) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (“ BPCL ”), which was selected as the preferred bidder by the Respondent i.e PNGRB, for the development of the Mehsana-Bhatinda Pipeline (“ MBPL ”) pursuant to a competitive bid process followed by it. Respondent issued the authorization for MBPL projects in the name of Gujarat State Petronet Limited (lead member of the GSPL consortium) on 7 th July 2011. Thereafter the Appellant was incorporated following the due process stipulated under the Companies Act, 1956 for incorporation of companies. Thereafter, the Respondent amended the authorization for MBPL in favour of Appellant vide its letter reference INFRA / PL / MISCELL / MBPL-BJSPL / 01 / 2012 dated 31 st May 2012.

2.2 It is pertinent to mention herein that as per the PNGRB authorization letter, the capacity in the MBPL natural gas pipeline shall be equal to

77.11 MMSCMD & the extra capacity in the natural gas pipeline shall be equal to 19.27 MMSCMD as per the provision as specified in clause (j) of sub-regulation (6) of regulation 5 and shall be available for use on common carrier basis by any third party on open access and non- discriminatory basis.

2.3 Respondent i.e. Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (“ PNGRB” ) is a statutory body constituted under the provisions of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006 (“ PNGRB Act ”) notified via gazette notification dated 31 st March 2006 to regulate “the refining, processing, storage, transportation, distribution, marketing and sale of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas excluding production of crude oil and natural gas so as to protect the interest of consumers and entities engaged in specified activities relating to petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas and to ensure uninterrupted and adequate supply of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas in all parts of the country and to promote competitive markets and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

2.4 Cairn India Limited (“ CIL ”) submitted to PNGRB a Tie- in Connectivity proposal on 16 th March, 2015 wherein it sought PNGRB’s direction to be given to GSPL to allow Tie-in Connectivity of the GSPL Gujarat Gas Grid at the Palanpur Terminal (Gujarat) with its Raageshwari Deep Gas Terminal at Barmer (Rajasthan). The said proposal was webhosted by PNGRB on 25 th March, 2015 and comments from the entities were invited.

2.5 Vide letter dated 24 th April, 2015, Appellant commented on the CIL’s proposal and objected it by stating that IP-01 of MBPL at Pali is the nearest feasible point for Tie-in connectivity and hence as per Regulation 21(1) of the Authoris