PSA SICAL TERMINALS LTD. Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition has been filed by the petitioner assailing the disbandment of the Committee, which had been constituted by the 1st respondent for the purpose of resolving the disputes/issues with regard to the issue pertaining to royalty as a part of the tariff forming part of the Tariff Order, which has been since been reduced drastically in total deviation of the licence agreement.

(2.) The facts, just and necessary for the disposal of the present petition could be stated as under :- The petitioner company, being the successful bidder, in the tender process for operating the Container Terminal in the 2nd respondent Port, in pursuance of the licence agreement, had been handling the Container Terminal since 1997 on Build, Operate and Transfer basis (for short 'BOT') with the tariff for the charges, inclusive of royalty, being finalised through the various Tariff Orders by the Tariff Regulator/Government, viz., Tariff Authority for Major Ports (for short 'TAMP'). The said tariff orders are to be reviewed once in three years and the petitioner was to continue operation and maintenance of the Terminal for a period of 30 years as per the terms of the licence agreement. The royalty collected by the petitioner was, in turn, paid to the 2nd respondent.

(3.) It is the specific case of the petitioner that the TAMP had drastically cut the tariffs and disallowed inclusion of royalty as an element of cost, while finalising the tariff for the years 2002 and 2008, which resulted in financial loss to the petitioner and against the said order, writ petition in W.P. Nos.40637 to 40639 of 2002 was filed before this Court, which granted interim orders and permitted the petitioner to collect tariff at the rates prevailing since 1999. The said scenario continued between the years 2005 to 2011 which resulted in series of writ petitions being filed by the petitioner and this Court granted interim directions against which writ appeals have been filed, which are pending.