Delhi Transco Ltd and Delhi Power Company Ltd have moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's power to fix tariffs of central generation and transmission utilities, including NTPC and Power Grid Corporation of India.
DTL and DPCL also challenged the part of the CERC (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations 2001 that imposed development surcharge of five per cent and 10 per cent on the utilities respectively and fixed their income tax liability.
A bench headed by Justice B N Agarwal admitted the petition last week and tagged it with the two other petitions filed by Neyveli Lignite Corp (NLC) and UP Power Corp (UPPC).
While seeking to set aside the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's order that dismissed their petition in November 2006, they contended that their pleas should be heard on merit as they cannot be without remedy.
Both the Delhi High Court and the Tribunal had dismissed their petitions on the ground that they had no jurisdiction over the statutory regulations framed by CERC. The Tribunal had also dismissed NLC's petition in November 2005.
The petition filed by counsel Pradeep Misra stated that NTPC and Power Grid cannot be allowed to claim income tax as expense from them, as it was contrary to the provision of the Income Tax Act as income tax being a direct tax cannot be allowed to pass through to the beneficiaries.
It further stated that CERC cannot continue the norms issued by the Central government for long without considering their effects and tariff.
DTL had challenged the Regulations of 2001 in the Delhi High Court in 2004. However, the Court transferred all the pending matters, including petitions filed by UPPC and NLC to the Tribunal which became functional in June 2005.
DTL and DPCL also challenged the part of the CERC (Terms and Conditions of Tariff) Regulations 2001 that imposed development surcharge of five per cent and 10 per cent on the utilities respectively and fixed their income tax liability.
A bench headed by Justice B N Agarwal admitted the petition last week and tagged it with the two other petitions filed by Neyveli Lignite Corp (NLC) and UP Power Corp (UPPC).
While seeking to set aside the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's order that dismissed their petition in November 2006, they contended that their pleas should be heard on merit as they cannot be without remedy.
Both the Delhi High Court and the Tribunal had dismissed their petitions on the ground that they had no jurisdiction over the statutory regulations framed by CERC. The Tribunal had also dismissed NLC's petition in November 2005.
The petition filed by counsel Pradeep Misra stated that NTPC and Power Grid cannot be allowed to claim income tax as expense from them, as it was contrary to the provision of the Income Tax Act as income tax being a direct tax cannot be allowed to pass through to the beneficiaries.
It further stated that CERC cannot continue the norms issued by the Central government for long without considering their effects and tariff.
DTL had challenged the Regulations of 2001 in the Delhi High Court in 2004. However, the Court transferred all the pending matters, including petitions filed by UPPC and NLC to the Tribunal which became functional in June 2005.
