Summary
The Supreme Court set aside the regulatory order entertaining a demand to reopen coal-cost payments already settled through its judgment and subsequent orders. Liberty to raise future disputes did not permit refund of amounts paid under those binding directions; it referred to periods after the relevant contempt order. Repeated attempts to avoid compliance warranted substantial quantified costs in favour of the two generators.
Issues
- Whether liberty to raise future contractual disputes permitted reopening amounts already approved and paid under Supreme Court orders.
- Whether costs were warranted for repeated litigation over the settled issue.
Held
- Liabilities arising from the 2017 judgment and subsequent orders were closed. The limited liberty in the 9 March 2021 order did not authorise reopening those chapters; the regulator had to respect that limitation. (¶¶ 15, 16, 17)
- The refund demand sought to reopen the same coal-cost issues and quantum already approved by the Court. In the context of the earlier orders, “future disputes” concerned a period after 9 March 2021 and could not unsettle payments due under the existing judgment. (¶¶ 20, 21, 22)
- The maintainability order was not innocuous because it enabled another round of litigation to evade settled obligations. Costs ordinarily follow success in a contractual dispute, especially where one party repeatedly seeks to avoid compliance. The claimed bills were moderated to quantified awards. (¶¶ 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
Result
Appeals allowed; impugned regulatory order set aside. Costs of Rs 40 lakh to Nabha Power and Rs 25 lakh to Talwandi Sabo Power, payable within four weeks.