The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday stayed a Single Bench order that had restrained the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) from passing final orders on the electricity tariff [hike proposal] petitions, filed by the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco)/Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation(Tantransco)/State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC), till a legal member is appointed to the commission.
A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Sundar and S. Srimathy stayed the Single Bench order after hearing elaborate arguments in the case. The court was hearing a batch of appeals, including the appeals preferred by the State government and the TNERC.
A Single Bench of the court, while disposing of a batch of petitions, restrained TNERC from passing final orders on the tariff petitions. The Single Bench had said that the present proceedings could go on and everything could be finalised by the current TNERC except for the formal declaration of orders on the tariff petitions. It said the moment when the appointment of the legal member was notified, the TNERC was free to formally dispose of the tariff petitions. The restraint order of the court would operate till then and not a moment thereafter, it observed.
