INDIAN ALUMINIUM COMPANY LIMITED Vs. KARNATAKA ELECTRICITY BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) the office is directed to prepare the cause title and preamble etc. Of these cases. In all these writ petitions, the petitioners challenge the demands made by the respondents for payments of fuel escalation charges. All the petitioners are h.t. consumers and are running power-intensive industries. Petitioners contend that there has been two revisions of general tariff rates, once in the year 1990 and another in the year 1992 and at each time of the revision, cost of fuel escalation as on the time of tariff revision was absorbed in the tariff rate and therefore, the present demands without any deduction towards the said neutralisations are illegal and arbitrary. The respondents, in their statement of objections have asserted that fuel adjustment charges were levied on the basis of what the first respondent board pays to the generating companies, who sell the electrical energy to the board and at present there are two such suppliers, referred to as national thermal power corporation (ntpc) and Karnataka power corporation (kpc). The respondents deny that tariff revisions made in 1990 and 1992 have already taken care of the fuel surcharge; respondents assert that the power cost adopted for fixation of power tariff in 1990 and 1992 did not include the fuel adjustment charges.

(2.) the details of the respective assertions and denials neednot be elaborated here.

(3.) following contentions were advanced by the learnedcounsel for the petitioners: