BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has dismissed the petition filed by Tata Power seeking review of its May 26, 2020 order vesting the management of the erstwhile Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) to TPCODL.“If a party is aggrieved of a judgment, it must approach the higher court but entertaining a review to re-consider the case would amount to exceeding its jurisdiction, conferred under the limited jurisdiction for the purpose of review,” the commission said.
The Tata Power Company Limited (TPCL) has sought review of the vesting order shortly after taking over the management of CESU. The petitioner had raised objections to almost all the points it had agreed upon for takeover of the utility that has now been renamed as Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL).
The petitioner had objected to the imposition of obligation to provide security in the form of corporate guarantee to secure the bulk supply price (BSP) bill of State-owned Gridco and transmission charges of OPTCL. The commission while vesting CESU employees with TPCODL has given full protection to their services so that they will in no way be inferior to the existing service conditions.
Demanding more operational flexibility to ensure efficiency in operation and staff deployment, TPCODL had contended that such conditions in the vesting order is not just arbitrary and unfair but is also likely to expose the petitioner to expensive and unnecessary litigation because of the vague and subjective nature of such direction.
TCPL has also objected to the aggregated technical and commercial (AT&C) loss trajectory for five years for tariff determination and linked the same to the performance of the company. The other objections raised by the company included transfer of the additional serviceable liabilities to TPCODL, transfer of unfunded employee liabilities and restrictions on use of fixed deposits.
“We observe that TPCL has sought review of the order mainly on the grounds which are based on assumptions, surmises and conjectures. The petition mainly relies on perceived grounds that the vesting order is inequitable, unjust, unreasonable, arbitrary, in violation of principles of natural justice or contrary to the Act and Regulations as well as the conditions of the license,” the order said. Since there is no merit in the review petition, it is dismissed as devoid of merit, the commission said.