WEST BENGAL ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION

WEST BENGAL

Petition No. WBERC/C-15/992

Date of hearing: 25th April, 2019

Time of hearing: 15.00 hours

Coram:

Shri Sutirtha Bhattacharya, Chairperson

Shri Durgadas Goswami, Member

In the matter of

Order issued by the Hon'ble High Court, Calcutta on 29.01.2019 in respect of the Writ petition no. W.P. No. 2723 (W) of 2018 filed by Indus Towers Limited (ITL) before the Hon'ble High Court at Calcutta with a prayer to inter-alia withdraw, recall, rescind and/or cancel the threat of disconnection notice dated 2nd February, 2018 issued by the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL).

Between

Indus Towers Limited Godrej Waterside, s" floor, Tower - 1 Unit - 801, Plot No. 5, Block - DP, Sector - V Salt Lake City Kolkata 700 054.

And

Petitioner

West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited Vidyut Bhavan Block DJ, Sector - II Salt Lake City Kolkata 700 091 Respondent

Representatives attended:

Indus Towers Limited (ITL) [Petitioner] 1. Sri Shyamal Sarkar, Sr. Advocate, Calcutta High Court, 2. Sri D. Chatterjee,

3. Sri Lal Babu Tiwary, Circle Legal Head, 4. Sri Chandan Shaw, Stan EB Executive, 5. Sri Debashis Bar, Sr. Executive, 6. Sri Rohit Shaw, Circle Energy Analyst, 7. Sri Jay Shankar Tewary, Circle Energy Controller 8. Sri Ritesh Jaiswal.

West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) [Respondent] 1. Sri Shyama Prasad Moitra, Chief Engineer (Distribution), 2. Sri Sudip Das, Addi. General Manager (HR&A), 3. Sri Malay Mukherjee, Addi. General Manager (F&A), 4. Sri Rudrajit Misra, Manager (HR&A), 5. Sri Prodip Mallick, DE (IT) 6. Ms Richa Chaturvedi, DE (IT).

FACTS OF THE CASE

A writ petition was filed by Indus Towers Limited (ITL) before the Hon'ble High Court at

Calcutta bearing no. W.P. 2723 (W) of 2018 praying for withdrawal of threat of

disconnection notice dated 2nd February, 2018 issued by the West Bengal State

Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL). The Hon'ble Justice Samapti

Chatterjee, J. passed an order dated 29.01.2019 in writ petition 2723 (W) of 2018 in the

matter of Indus Towers Limited & Anr. - vs - The State of West Bengal & Ors, which is

reproduced below:

"Be that as it may, I direct the Regulatory Commissioner to resolve the

issue within 6 weeks from the date of communication of this order after

giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioners or their authorized

representative and the distribution company or their authorized

representative and thereafter communicate the decision to the parties

forthwith."

The aforesaid order was communicated to the Commission by Sri A Ghosh, Advocate of

the petitioner vide letter dated so" January, 20199. In terms of the order of the Hon'ble

Justice Samapti Chatterjee, J. a hearing was fixed on 28.02.2019 at 14.30 hours at the

office of this Commission when representatives from both the parties were present

After hearing both the parties on 28.02.2019, the Commission directed both the Indus

Towers Limited and the WBSEDCL to submit their written submission, before the next

date of hearing scheduled to be held on 28.03.2019 at 14.30 hours at the office of the

Commission, inter-alia, containing the following particulars:.

a) Consolidated bill amount for each month with break-up of total amount and

amount of rebate, if paid within due date along with a sample copy of bill;

b) Due date of payment with rebate against each such bill;

c) The date of payment for each such bill;

d) Amount paid by TSL for each such bill.

Accordingly, both the parties have submitted their written submission before the

Commission on th March, 2019 and the hearing took place on 28.03.2019 at 14.30

hours as scheduled.

Upon hearing both Indus Towers and WBSEDCL on 28.03.2019, the Commission

directed the following:

" ... the Indus Towers Limited and the WBSEDCL to reconcile the outstanding amount of

Rs. 5801368.00 by checking each bill that caused the said outstanding amount. Even

after reconciliation, if there be any disputed outstanding amount that WBSEDCL likes to

claim from the Indus Towers that has to be furnished to the Commission by the next date

of hearing. However. if the parties like to submit any written submission before the

Commission, the same should be submitted within 9th April, 2019 with a copy to other

party. The next hearing is fixed on 25.04.2019 at 15.00 hours".

SUBMISSION DURING HEARING

During the hearing, the representatives of both the parties have made their submission

as narrated below:

Sri Shyamal Sarkar, Sr. Advocate, Calcutta High Court, on behalf of ITL, inter-alia stated

that -

a) The gesture / co-operation / attitude shown by WBSEDCL in settling the issue as

per the direction of the Commission is appreciable;

b) The error in calculation in the accounts of WBSEDCL relates to roughly sixty six

thousand bills and the principal areas of difference are also pointed out in ITL's

written submission;

c) WBSEDCL has referred only the bill for January, 2014 to their software

consultant, instead WBSEDCL may refer the entire third party independent audit

report prepared by ITL to any independent financial consultant of their choice and

if WBSEDCL is satisfied, the excess amount paid by ITL may be refunded;

d) ITL reiterated the principal areas of difference which are related to - i) delayed

payment surcharge, ii) rebate and special rebate, iii) prior period claim, iv)

unexplained deduction, v) payment made but not taken into consideration, vi)

duplicate/overlapping bills, etc.

e) Unless the accounts are in comparable standard, it will not be possible for the

Commission to arrive at a conclusion;

f) WBSEDCL fixed a meeting on 13th April, 2019 for reconciliation of accounts, but

the same could not be attended due to the reason that the concerned Engineer­

in-Charge of ITL was on leave from 1 ih April, to is" April, 2019;

g) A meeting between WBSEDCL and ITL may be fixed any day after 1 r" April, 2019;

h) ITL is ready and eager to cooperate with WBSEDCL in settling the issue.

Sri Shyama Prasad Moitra, Chief Engineer (Distribution), Sri Malay Mukherjee, Addi.

General Manager (F&A) and Ms Richa Chaturvedi, DE (IT), WBSEDCL submitted inter­

alia that -

a) Reconciliation of the outstanding amount of Rs. 5801368 for January, 2014 has

already been taken up with WBSEDCL's IT consultant and the work is under

process;

b) The outcome of the reconciliation will be submitted to the Commission before the

next date of hearing;

c) IT consultant has been advised to check whether there is any disputed

outstanding amount to be claimed from ITL by WBSEDCL. The same will also be

submitted to the Commission before the next date of hearing;

d) The alleged disputed bills to the tune of Rs. 2.81 cores is required to be

confirmed from ITL with documentary evidence;

e) A meeting with ITL was attempted on 13th April, 2019 for redressal of the dispute

of all alleged disputed bills along with documentary evidence of such dispute.

However, the meeting was not held;

f) WBSEDCL shall make another attempt to sit with ITL for redressal of the

disputes and the outcome will be intimated to the Commission before the next

date of hearing;

g) Waiver of LPSC to the tune of Rs. 7.68 crores requires permission from the

Commission, which may be considered upon submission of application by

WBSEDCL.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE COMMISSION

The Commission observed from the submissions made by the parties before the

Commission that both WBSEDCL and ITL have reduced the zone of dispute to a large

extent and if they work further with the same spirit, the disputes can be resolved fully.

ORDER

Upon hearing both the sides, the Commission directs that both the ITL and the

WBSEDCL will sit together and reconcile the outstanding dues, if any, payable by either

party immediately. After reconciliation, a statement jointly signed by both WBSEDCL and

ITL in regard to outstanding dues, shall be submitted to the Commission within the next

day of hearing which is scheduled to be held on 27.06.2019 at 14.30 hours at the office

of the Commission.

Sd/­ (DURGADAS GOSWAMI)

MEMBER

Sd/- (SUTIRTHA BHATTACHARYA)

CHAIRPERSON

DATE: 02.05.2019

(T. K. MUKHERJEE) SECRETARY

/(7\ '..')@)/

~ •. , ... ,<I'.·