January 22, 2019:
On Monday, The Division Bench of Hon'ble Supreme Court comprising Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta delivered Judgment on a SLP filed by Reliance Infrastructure Limited.
The issue raised was regarding the validity of a tariff regulation framed by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).
The Hon'ble Bombay High Court held against the appellant both on the maintainability of its writ petition under Article 226 of the constitution and on the merits of the challenge to the validity of the statutory regulation. The Special Leave Petition was thus filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court.
It was observed by the SC that the power to frame regulations is of a legislative nature. The Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) report was an input before the MERC in carrying out that exercise.
MERC followed the statutory procedures laid down for the determination of tariffs. It took into account factors which it is mandated by the statute to consider. The national tariff policy, suggestions of stakeholders as well as the assessment carried out by the CPRI were duly considered.
Hence, it was held by the SC that the present case does not fall in the paradigm of manifest unreasonableness or arbitrariness to warrant the interference of this Court.A body which is entrusted with the task of framing subordinate legislation has a range of options including policy options. If on an appraisal of all the guiding principles, it has chosen a particular line of logic or rationale, this Court ought not to interfere.
Therefore the regulation 44.2(d) of the MERC (Multi Year Tariff) Regulations, 2011 does not suffer from any constitutional or statutory infirmity. However, there is no infirmity in the impugned regulation and accordingly SC affirms the ultimate conclusion of the High Court to dismiss the writ petition under Article 226.
Read Judgment @ LatestLaws.com
RELIANCE INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED vs STATE OF MAHARASHTRA-21-01-2019(Downloadable PDF)
Reliance Infrastructure Limited vs State of Maharashtra-21!01!2019 by Anonymous P3qxYB on Scribd
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