Supreme Court Pulls Up Registry For Not Listing Adani Power Case Despite Judicial Order

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 23) pulled up its Registry for not listing a matter related to Adani Power Rajasthan Ltd despite a judicial order to post it today.During the oral mentioning round this morning, a bench comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and PV Sanjay Kumar asked Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave (who was present before the bench to mention another matter) about the Adani Power case.Dave is representing Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (a government-owned electricity distribution company in the state of Rajasthan) in the case against Adani Power. Expressing concern about the non-listing of the Adani Power matter, despite a specific direction to post it today, Dave said when the lawyers of the JVVNL enquired with the Registry, the officials said that they have instructions to not list it."If the government were to ignore the court's orders, it would be treated as contempt, but when the registry defies the court's orders, should it not be viewed seriously?", Dave said.Taking serious note of this issue, the bench assured Dave that it would investigate the issue, before proceeding to summon a senior Registry official to the court. The official from the Registry reached the Court. The judges then retired to the chambers for a closed-door discussion with the official. After reassembling, the bench directed that the matter should be listed as the first item tomorrow, Wednesday, January 24.This is not the first time that the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the registry's failure to list cases despite judicial instructions. Last week, a bench headed by Justice Abhay S Oka noted with dismay that a civil appeal ought to have been listed on a Thursday, as directed, instead of Friday when it was listed. Justice Oka orally observed, "What is worrying is that some members of the staff have bye-passed the judicial order directing listing of the civil appeal."In another case, Justice Oka last year pulled up the registry for shifting the blame on court masters for non-compliance with the court's orders, calling it a 'very sorry state of affairs'.In January last year, the Supreme Court directed its registry to file a report explaining how Adani Power's miscellaneous application, seeking modification in a 2020 judgment, was listed before the court. This was despite the final disposal of the case in August 2020, a concern that was flagged by the Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, a government-owned electricity distribution company in the state of Rajasthan, in a letter to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court. In this representation, JVVNL questioned how Adani Power could file such an application without filing any review petition against the August 2020 judgment.In its 2020 judgment, the Supreme Court upheld the orders of the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, stating that Adani Power was entitled to compensatory tariff but not to the Late Payment Surcharge (LPS) as claimed in the Power Purchase Agreement. Adani Power's 2022 application sought the payment of Rs. 1376.35 Crores as outstanding LPS, leading to the present litigation.Dushyant Dave, Sr Adv along with Mr Kartik Seth Advocate appeared and argued for Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited.Case DetailsJaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited v. Adani Power Rajasthan Limited | Diary No. 21994-2022

Supreme Court Pulls Up Registry For Not Listing Adani Power Case Despite Judicial Order

Awstika Das

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