RELIANCE INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED Vs. MAHARASHTRA ELECTRICITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WHEN the appeal was being heard continuously for a number of days the learned counsels for both the parties would for the sake of convenience and also ,of course ,in lighter vein term the appeal as a 'good will' case because the whole gamut of the appeal centres round the question whether the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission , the respondent no.1 herein, was legally justified in making some alleged adverse criticisms against the appellant ,namely Reliance Infrastructure Limited, a company under the Companies Act, 1956 in its 4-page order dated 9th. September, 2010 passed in case no 121 of 2008.

(2.) MAINTAINABILITY of the appeal in its present form and prayer has been no doubt, questioned by the Commission which we will advert to at the appropriate place ; for the present the essence of the order as has been expressed in paragraph 7 thereof is reproduced below after which we will revert back to the background of the case in the context of which the proceeding arose.

(3.) THIS order makes it clear that the Government of Maharashtra was sceptical and critical of the performance of the appellant because it formed a doubt as to whether the appellant had really been discharging its duties in terms of the Act so that the ordinary consumers were not burdened with hardship; lest the appellant did not act in economical manner it gave a direction. The Government, therefore, in express terms directed that investigation should be made in order to ensure that no unreasonable and unjustified bills were meanwhile collected so long as the investigation would be in progress. This order of the Government as communicated to the Commission by a letter dated 25th June, 2009 as reproduced by the Commission in its order dated 15th. July,2009 necessitated the Commission to pass an order as to why an investigation was really necessary into the performance of the appellant. Then followed another order dated 8th September, 2009 passed by the Commission whereby it appointed and directed the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) of Hyderabad to investigate into the affairs of the appellant. The said order was passed purportedly under Section 128 of the Electricity Act, 2003 and we reproduce the relevant paragraphs of the said order in order that it would not be necessary for us to repeat in our own words what the order was about, and this order dated 8th September,2009 would show that on 15.7.2009 the Commission submitted to the Government a report on the appellant's distribution business.