The Supreme Court today (November 4) admitted an appeal in the Special Leave Petition against the judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court dated October 13, 2011.

The petition raised a substantial question of law, i.e. whether section 56(2) of the Electricity Act, 2003 will apply to bills issued solely in respect of dues arising under the Electricity Act, 1948, as was applicable before. until the entry into force of the 2003 Law.

The fact of the matter is that the appellant has raised a claim worth Rs. 70.50 lacs vide a showcase dated January 7, 2009. It refers to the failure of Respondent No. 1 to observe certain conditions while being granted permission to operate the 807 KVA biogas TG equipment. Respondent no. I paid the deficient load factor charges from then until the 2003 Act came into effect.

According to the ruling of the High Court bench, after the new Law came into force in 2003, the old requirement could only be applied up to a period of two years from the entry into force of the new Law. The SLP held that The court’s interpretation was contrary to the law, including the ruling in the case. Kusumam Hotels v. Kerala, SEB, (2008).

The SLP maintains: “The Act of 2003 does not provide for any retrospective operation nor does it say that the limitation will also be applicable to the dues under the old Act. The Hon’ble High Court also overlooked that the liability of Rs 70.50 lacs had been calculated, quantified and implied to respondent no.

A bench of Jjustices Dipankar Datta and Pankaj Mithal pronounced the sentence.

The story will be updated after the ruling is uploaded.

Case Details: THE MADHYA PRADESH MADHYA KSHETRA VIDYUT VITRAN COMPANY LIMITED AND ORS.v. BAPUNA ALCOBREW PRIVATE LIMITED AND ANR.,CA No. 1095/2013

Appearances: Liz Mathew, Adv Sr. assisted by Rohit K. Singh, AOR; Uday Nath Tiwari, lawyer; Prakhar Srivastava, Advocate (representing the Appellants) and Jayant K. Mehta, Sr. Advocate; Kuber Dewan, lawyer; Anuradha Dutt, lawyer; Neeharika Aggarwal, lawyer; Kaushtubh Srivastava, lawyer; Raghav Dutt, lawyer; B. Vijayalakshmi Menon, AOR; Raghav Sharma, lawyer; Jaskirat Pal Singh, Adv. Pranjal Pandey, lawyer; & Salvador Santosh Rebello, AOR (for respondents)