Item No.6
THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
AND
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE B. VIJAYSEN REDDY
WRIT APPEAL No.73 OF 2021
JUDGMENT: (Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Hima Kohli)
1. The appellants are aggrieved by the order dated 18.01.2021,
passed by the learned Single Judge allowing W.P.No.16490 of 2020
filed by the respondent No.1/writ petitioner praying inter alia for
calling upon the appellants to pay the amounts due to it towards energy injected in the grid of the appellants and banked from the date of synchronisation i.e., 06.06.2017, as per joint meter reading dated 31.03.2020 in terms of the Solar Power Policy, 2015, the order dated 26.11.2018 passed by the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission in O.P.No.60 of 2018 and the order dated 02.03.2020 passed in O.P.No.7 of 2020.
2. By the impugned order, the learned Single Judge has allowed the writ petition filed by the respondent No.1/writ petitioner and directed the appellants to pay the amounts due to it for the energy injected into the grid as per the joint meter reading dated 31.03.2020, in terms of the tariff fixed by the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission within eight weeks from the date of passing of the said order. The appellants have also been directed to consider the application moved by the respondent No.1/writ petitioner for long term open access without insisting upon it furnishing an undertaking W.A.No.73 of 2021 Page 1 of 3 that it will forego amounts already due for the energy injected into the grid. Lastly, the appellants have been directed to continue paying the amounts for the energy injected into the grid till such time as the open access is not granted to the writ petitioner or an agreement entered into between the parties.
3. In the course of submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, it transpires that the request for open access was made by the respondent No.1/writ petitioner to the appellants as long back as on 04.08.2017, but the same has remained pending at the end of the appellants in all this while.
4. Mr. R. Vinod Reddy, learned counsel for the appellants assures the Court that if granted a reasonable time, the appellants shall process the pending open access request of the respondent No.1/writ petitioner without insisting that the latter furnish an undertaking in terms of the letter dated 18.12.2020. Learned counsel for the respondent No.1/writ petitioner is agreeable to the aforesaid request.
5. Accordingly, with the consent of the parties, the present appeal is disposed of, along with the pending applications, if any, while directing the appellants to process the application of the respondent No.1/writ petitioner for long term open access on or before 05.04.2021. The amounts due and payable to the respondent No.1/writ petitioner shall be cleared by the appellants on or before 30.04.2021.
6. It is clarified that the aforesaid order is without prejudice to the right of the appellants to raise a demand for reimbursement for any W.A.No.73 of 2021 Page 2 of 3 inadvertent power pumped into the grid during the period of synchronisation, which as per the undertaking furnished by the respondent No.1/writ petitioner, will be free of cost to the appellants. The demand in this regard may be raised by the appellants on or before 30.04.2021, with the exact amount for which waiver of cost is sought, mentioned in terms of the undertaking given by the respondent No.1/writ petitioner. If the same is accepted, then the respondent No.1/writ petitioner shall give a set off to the appellants for the said amount.
_________________ HIMA KOHLI, CJ ______________________ B. VIJAYSEN REDDY, J 05.03.2021 Lur/pln W.A.No.73 of 2021 Page 3 of 3