Limitation — Pronouncement of order — Maximum period prescribed is 120 days from ‘date of communication of order’ of Tribunal — Electricity Act, 2003, S. 125.

27 Limitation — Pronouncement of order — Maximum period prescribed is 120 days from ‘date of communication of order’ of Tribunal — Electricity Act, 2003, S. 125.

[Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board v. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission & Ors., AIR 2010 SC 2061]

S. 110 of the Electricity Act provides for establishment of a Tribunal to hear appeals. S. 111(1) and (2) lays down that any person aggrieved by an order made by an adjudicating officer or an appropriate commission under this Act may prefer an appeal to the Tribunal within a period of 45 days from the date on which a copy of the order made by an adjudicating officer or the appropriate commission is received by him. S. 111(5) mandates that the Tribunal shall deal with the appeal as expeditiously as possible and endeavour to dispose of the same finally within 180 days from the date of receipt thereof. S. 125 lays down that any person aggrieved by any decision or order of the Tribunal can file an appeal to the Supreme Court within 60 days from the date of communication of the decision or order of the Tribunal.

The question which arose for consideration was what is the date of communication of the decision or order of the Tribunal for the purpose of S. 125 of the Electricity Act. The word ‘communication’ has not been defined in the Act and the Rules. Therefore, the same deserves to be interpreted by applying the rule of contextual interpretation and keeping in view the language of the relevant provisions. Rule 94(1) of the Rules lays down that the Bench of the Tribunal which hears an application or petition shall pronounce the order immediately after conclusion of the hearing. Rule 94(2) deals with a situation where the order is reserved. In that event, the date for pronouncement of order is required to be notified in the cause list and the same is treated as a notice of intimation of pronouncement. Rule 98(1) casts a duty upon the Court Master to immediately after pronouncement transmit the order along with the case file to the Deputy Registrar. In terms of Rule 98(2), the Deputy Registrar is required to scrutinise the file, satisfy himself that provisions of rules have been complied with and thereafter, send the case file to the Registry for taking steps to prepare copies of the order and their communication to the parties. If Rule 98(2) is read in isolation, one may get an impression that the registry of the Tribunal is duty bound to send copies of the order to the parties and the order will be deemed to have been communicated on the date of receipt thereof, but if the same is read in conjunction with S. 125 of the Electricity Act, which enables any aggrieved party to file an appeal within 60 days from the date of communication of the decision or order of the Tribunal, Rule 94(2) which postulates notification of the date of pronouncement of the order in the cause list and Rule 106 under which the Tribunal can allow filing of an appeal or petition or application through electronic media and provide for rectification of the defects by e-mail or net, it becomes clear that once the factum of pronouncement of order by the Tribunal is made known to the parties and they are given opportunity to obtain a copy thereof through e-mail, etc., the order will be deemed to have been communicated to the parties and the period of 60 days specified in the main part of S. 125 will commence from that date.

The issue was also considered from another angle. As mentioned above, Rule 94(2) requires that when the order is reserved, the date of pronouncement shall be notified in the cause list and that shall be a valid notice of pronouncement of the order. The counsel appearing for the parties are supposed to take cognizance of the cause list in which the case is shown for pronouncement. If title of the case and name of the counsel is printed in the cause list, the same will be deemed as a notice regarding pronouncement of the order. Once the order is pronounced after being shown in the cause list with the title of the case and name of the counsel, the same will be deemed to have been communicated to the parties and they can obtain copy through e-mail or by filing an application for certified copy.