Full Judgment Text
NON-REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 3764 OF 2016
THE ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT, REP. BY ITS
SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER,PORT BLAIR AND ANR. APPELLANTS
VERSUS
M/S SURYACHAKRA POWER CORPORATION LIMITED
AND ANR. RESPONDENTS
J U D G M E N T
NARIMAN, J.
1. The present appeal is a sequel to Civil Appeal No. 1652
nd
of 2015. By our judgment and order dated 22 September, 2016,
th
against the judgment of the Appellate Tribunal dated 28
November, 2014, we disposed of the aforesaid appeal allowing
the appeal only to a limited extent and setting aside the
JUDGMENT
judgment of the Appellate Tribunal insofar as it allowed an
increase in interest during construction (IDC), financing
charges (FC) and incidental expenses during construction
(IEDC) incurred for the delay in execution of the project for
reasons beyond the control of the respondent.
2. In the second round of litigation, the implementation of
the aforesaid order of the Appellate Tribunal has taken place,
1
Page 1
th
and the impugned judgment of the Appellate Tribunal dated 14
March, 2016 has been placed before us. In particular, a chart
extracted in paragraph 9.13 has been supplied by the Appellate
Tribunal indicating how it has arrived at a total project cost
of Rs. 77.64 crores. We find that Shri Rakesh Khanna, learned
senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants has
raised various submissions before us, most of which have been
raised and turned down earlier. We find that item nos. 1,2,3
& 4 of the said chart are unexceptionable for the reason that
they strictly conform to paragraphs 25 and 36 of the Appellate
th
Tribunal judgment dated 28 November, 2014. However, item
no.5 consists of a sum of Rs.1.84 crores and 0.84 crores,
being additional interest during construction, financing cost,
and incidental expenses during construction. Since the
earlier appeal i.e. Civil Appeal No. 1652 of 2015 has been
allowed to a limited extent, these figures will have to be
deleted and consequently the project cost will now stand as
Rs.74.96 crores.
JUDGMENT
3. We have been informed that a sum of Rs.15 crores is lying
in deposit having been invested by the Registry of this Court.
th
This sum has been provided by appellant No.1 on 12 July, 2016
pursuant to an interim order of this Court. The disbursement
of this sum is dependent upon adjudication proceedings pending
before the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission, Gurgaon.
2
Page 2
4. We direct the said Commission to complete the exercise
necessary in these proceedings positively within six weeks
from today. If the Commission directs payment of Rs.15 crores
or more to be made by the appellants to the respondents, the
Registry of this Court is directed to disburse the amount of
Rs. 15 crores with accrued interest, if necessary, to the
Respondents without further reference to this Court. In case
a sum of less than Rs.15 crores is ordered to be disbursed to
the Respondents, the said sum shall be paid by the Registry to
the Respondents, and the balance lying in deposit, with
accrued interest, shall be returned to appellant No.1. In
case no amount is payable to the Respondents, the Registry
shall return the amount in deposit with accrued interest to
appellant No.1.
5. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
No costs.
JUDGMENT
...................J.
[KURIAN JOSEPH]
....................J.
[ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN]
NEW DELHI;
OCTOBER 18, 2016
3
Page 3