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The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice in a plea moved by Tata Power challenging the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) order which upheld the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission's order allowing Rs 7000 crore power transmission contract to Adani Electricity on a nomination basis, Financial Express reported.

 A bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Surya Kant has directed the counter affidavits to be filed within 4 weeks. 

Tata Power has challenged the APTEL order which upheld the MERC decision while noting that the order cannot be said to be "incorrect, perverse or inappropriate." Whereas, the plea has stated that the policies mandate competitive bidding as the ideal process for the allotment of large infrastructure contracts.

It has been submitted that the net effect of the license order, as well as the Impugned Order, is that, not only has a 7,000-crore project been awarded to a private project proponent in exclusion of competitive bidding, but the importance of transparency and competition as enshrined under Section 63 read with Sections 86(3), 79(3), 178 and 181 of the Electricity Act have been completely vitiated, thereby creating a scenario where any State Regulatory Commission, on its choosing, can engage with a private project proponent for the development of intrastate transmission assets without following the mandatory route of competitive bidding.

Tata Power referred to several Judgments and Central Government policies mandating the bidding process, whereas, the plea has stated that the impugned order is explicitly violative of the provisions.

In furtherance to this, the bench has directed all the counsels to file brief notes of submissions and exchange them at least a week before the next date of listing i.e. July 19, 2022.

Cause Title: THE TATA POWER COMPANY LIMITED TRANSMISSION Vs. MAHARASHTRA ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION & ORS.