EXTRAORDINARY
PART III-Section 4

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

Notification

New Delhi, the 23^rd April, 1999

No. 8/1/99-CERC.  In exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 55 of the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998 (Act 14 of 1998) the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission hereby makes the following Regulations, namely :

CHAPTER I

GENERAL

 Short title, commencement, and interpretation

1.         (1)  These Regulations may be called the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1999.

            (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette

            (3) They extend to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Definitions

2.             (1)    In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires :

(a) 'Act' means the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998 (Act 14 of 1998)

(b) 'Commission' means the Central Commission constituted under the Act;

(c) 'Officer' means an officer of the Commission;

(d) 'Petition' means and includes all petitions, applications, complaints, appeals, replies, rejoinders, supplemental pleadings, other papers and documents;

(e) 'Proceedings' mean and include proceedings of all nature that the Commission may hold in the discharge of its function under the Act;

(f) 'Regulations' means these Regulations;

(g) 'Secretary' means the Secretary of the Commission.

(2) Words or expressions occurring in these Regulations and not defined herein but defined in the Act shall bear the same meaning as in the Act.

(3) The provisions of the General Clauses Act, 1897 as amended from time to time shall apply to these Regulations.

Commission's office, office hours and sittings

3. The place of the offices of the Commission may from time to time be specified by the Commission, by an order made in that behalf.

4. Unless otherwise directed, the headquarters and other offices of the Commission shall be open daily except on Saturdays, Sundays and Central Government holidays notified by the Central Government. The headquarters and other offices of the Commission shall be open at such times as the Commission may direct.

5. Where the last day for doing of any act falls on a day on which the office of the Commission is closed and by reason thereof the act cannot be done on that day, it may be done on the next day on which the office is open.

6. The Commission may hold sittings for hearing matters at the headquarters or at any other place on days and time to be specified by the Commission.

7. The Proceedings of the Commission shall be conducted in English or Hindi, if permitted by the Commission

8. No Petition, documents or other material contained in any language other than English or in Hindi if permitted by the Commission, may be accepted by the Commission, unless the same is accompanied by a translation thereof in English/Hindi.

9. Any translation which is agreed to by the parties to the Proceedings or which any of the. parties may furnish with an authenticity certificate of the person who had translated to English/Hindi, may be accepted by the Commission as a true translation.

10. The Commission in appropriate cases may direct translation of the petition, pleadings, documents and other material to English by an officer or person designated by the Commission for the purpose.

11. There shall be a separate seal indicating that it is the seal of the Commission

12.

(1) The Commission shall have the power to appoint Secretary, officers and other employees for discharging various duties. It may also prescribe the qualifications, experience and other terms and conditions for the appointment of such officers and other employees.

(2)The Commission may appoint Consultants to assist the Commission in the discharge of its functions. The terms and conditions of appointment of Consultants shall be determined by the Commission at its meetings from time to time.

13.

(1) The Secretary shall be the Principal Officer of the Commission and shall exercise his powers and perform his duties under the control of the Chairperson.

(2) The Commission in discharge of its functions under the Act, may take such assistance from the Secretary as it may deem fit and the Secretary shall be bound to assist the Commission.

(3) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the above provisions, the Secretary shall have the following powers and perform the following duties, namely :

(a) he shall have custody of the records and the seal of the Commission;

(b) he shall receive or cause to receive all petitions, applications or reference pertaining to the Commission;

(c) he shall prepare or cause to be prepared briefs and summaries of all pleadings presented by various parties in each case before the Commission in the discharge of its function in this regard;

(d) he shall assist the Commission in the proceedings relating to the powers exercisable by the Commission;

(e) he shall authenticate the orders passed by the Commission;

(f) he shall ensure compliance of the orders passed by the Commission; and

(g) he shall have the right to collect from the Central Government or other offices, companies and firms or any other party as may be directed by the Commission, such information as may be considered useful for the purpose of efficient discharge of the functions of the Commission under the Act and place the information before the Commission.

15. The Secretary may, with the approval of the Commission, delegate to any Officer of the Commission any function required by these Regulations or otherwise, to be exercised by the Secretary

16. In the absence of the Secretary, such other Officer of the Commission, as may be designated by the Chairperson, may exercise all the functions of the Secretary.

17. The Commission shall, at all times have the authority, either on an application made by any interested or affected party or suo motu, to review, revoke, revise, modify, amend, alter or otherwise change any order made or action taken by the Secretary or the Officers of the Commission, if the Commission considers the same to be appropriate.

Recognition for Consumer Associations

18.

(1) It shall be open to the Commission to permit any association/forum or other bodies corporate or any group of consumers to participate in any proceedings before the Commission.

(2) It shall be open to the Commission for the sake of timely completion of proceedings, to direct grouping of the associations / forums referred to above so that they can make collective affidavits.

(3) The Commission may as and when considered appropriate notify a procedure for recognition of associations, group, forum or bodies corporate as registered consumer association for purposes of representation before the Commission.

19.

(1) The Commission may appoint any officer or any other person to represent consumers' interest if considered necessary.

(2) The Commission may direct payment to the officer or person appointed to represent the consumers interest such fees, costs and expense by such of the parties in the proceedings as the Commission may consider appropriate.

CHAPTER II

GENERAL RULES CONCERNING THE PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION

Proceedings etc. before the Commission

20. The Commission may from time to time hold hearings, meetings, discussions, deliberations, inquiries, investigations and consultations as it may consider appropriate in the discharge of its functions under the Act.

21. The Quorum for the proceedings before Commission shall be three.

22. No Member (including Ex-officio Member) shall exercise his vote on a decision unless he is present during all the substantial hearings of the Commission on such matter.

23. A person may authorise an advocate or a member of any statutory professional body holding a Certificate of Practice as the Commission may from time to time specify to represent him and act and plead on his behalf before the Commission. The person may also appear himself or may authorise any of his employees to appear before the Commission and to act and plead on his behalf. The Commission may from time to time specify the terms and conditions subject to which a person may authorise any other person to represent him and act and plead on his behalf.

24. The Commission may initiate any Proceedings suo motu or on a Petition filed by any affected or interested person.

25. The notice of the initiation of the proceedings may be issued by the Commission, and the Commission may give such orders and directions as may be deemed necessary, for service of notices to the affected parties, the filing of reply and rejoinder in opposition or in support of the Petition in such form as it may direct. The Commission may, if it considers appropriate, issue orders for publication of the petition inviting comments on the issues involved in the proceedings in such form as the Commission may direct.

26. While issuing the notice of inquiry the Commission may, in appropriate cases, designate an Officer of the Commission or any other person whom the Commission considers appropriate to present the matter in the capacity of a petitioner in the case.

27. All Petitions to be filed before the Commission shall be typewritten, cyclostyled or printed neatly and legibly on one side of white paper and every page shall be consecutively numbered. The Commission will accept petitions filed with a Computer Disk or through Electronic Media on such terms and conditions as the Commission may specify. The contents of the Petition should be divided appropriately into separate paragraphs, which shall be numbered serially. The Petition shall be accompanied by such documents supporting data and statements as the Commission may specify.

28. The general heading in all Petitions before the Commission and in all publications and notices shall be in Form 1.

(1) The petitions shall be verified by an affidavit and every such affidavit shall be in Form 2.

(2) Every affidavit shall be drawn up in the first person and shall state the full name, age, occupation and address of the deponent and the capacity in which he is signing and shall be signed and sworn before a person lawfully authorised to take and receive affidavits.

(3) Every affidavit shall clearly and separately indicate the statements which are true to the-

(a) knowledge of the deponent;

(b) information received by the deponent; and

(c) belief of the deponent.

(4) Where any statement in the affidavit is stated to be true to the information received by the deponent, the affidavit shall also disclose the source of the information and a statement that the deponent believes that information to be true.

30. In accordance with section 193 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, who ever intentionally gives false evidence in any of the proceedings of the Commission or fabricates false evidence for the purpose of being used in any of the proceedings shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.

31. All Petitions shall be filed with seven copies and each set of the Petition shall be complete in all respects. The fees as may be prescribed by the Commission shall be payable along with the petition.

32. All Petitions shall be presented in person or by any duly authorised agent or representative at the headquarters or such other filing centre or centres as may be notified by the Commission from time to time and during the time notified. The Petitions may also be sent by registered post acknowledgement due to the Commission at the places mentioned above. The vakalatnama in favour of the advocate and, in the event the Petitions are presented by an authorised representative, the document authorising the representative shall be filed along with the Petition, if not already filed on the record of the case.

33. Upon the receipt of the Petition the Officer of the Commission designated for the purpose of receiving the petition shall acknowledge the receipt by stamping and endorsing the date on which the Petition has been presented and shall issue an acknowledgement with stamp and date to the person filing the Petition. In case the Petition is received by registered post the date on which the Petition is actually received at the office of the Commission shall be taken as the date of the presentation of the Petition.

34. The presentation and receipt of the Petition shall be duly entered in the register maintained for the purpose by the office of the Commission.

35. The Receiving Officer may decline to accept any Petition which does not conform to the provisions of the Act or the Regulations or directions given by the Commission or otherwise defective or which is presented otherwise than in accordance with the regulations or directions of the Commission.

Provided however no Petition shall be refused for defect in the pleadings Or in the presentation, without giving an opportunity to the person filing the Petition to rectify the defect within the time which may be given for the purpose. The Receiving Officer shall advise in writing the person filing the Petition of the defects in the Petition filed.

36. A person aggrieved by any order of the Receiving Officer in regard to the presentation of the Petition may request the matter to be placed before the Secretary of the Commission for appropriate orders.

37. The Chairperson or any Member as the Chairperson may designate for the purpose shall be entitled to call for the Petition presented by the party and give such directions regarding the presentation and acceptance of the Petition as he considers appropriate.

38. If on scrutiny, the Petition is not refused or any order of refusal is rectified by the Secretary or by the Chairperson or the Member of the Commission designated for the purpose, the Petition shall be duly registered and given a number in the manner to be specified by the Commission.

39. As soon as the Petition and all necessary documents are lodged and the defects and objections, if any, are removed, and the Petition has been scrutinised and numbered, the Petition shall be put up before the Commission for preliminary hearing and admission.

40. The Commission may admit the Petition for hearing without requiring the attendance of the party. The Commission shall not, pass an order refusing admission without giving the party concerned an opportunity of being heard. The Commission may if it considers appropriate issue notice to such person or persons as it may desire to hear the petition for admission.

41. If the Commission admits the Petition, it may give such orders and directions, as may be deemed necessary, for service of notices to the respondent(s) and other affected or interested parties; for the filing of replies and rejoinder in opposition or in support of the Petition in such form as the Commission may direct and for the petition to be placed for hearing before the Commission or a Bench, as the case may be.

Service of notices and processes issued by the Commission

42.

(a) service by any of the parties to the proceedings as may be directed by the Commission;
(b) by hand delivery through a messenger;
(c) by registered post with acknowledgement due;
(d) by publication in newspaper in cases where the Commission is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable to serve the notices, processes, etc. on any person in the manner mentioned above.
(e) in any other manner as considered appropriate by the Commission.

(2) The Commission shall be entitled to decide in each case the persons who shall bear the cost of such service / publication.

43. Every notice or process required to be served on or delivered to any person may be sent to the person or his agent empowered to accept service at the address furnished by him for service or at the place where the person or his agent ordinarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain.

44. In the event any matter is pending before the Commission and the person to be served has authorised an agent or representative to appear for or represent him or her in the matter, such agent or representative shall be deemed to be duly empowered to take service of the notices and processes on behalf of the party concerned in all matters and the service on such agent or representative shall be taken as due service on the person to be served.

45. Where a notice is served by a party to the Proceedings either in person or through registered post, an affidavit of service shall be filed by such party with the Commission giving details of the date and manner of service of notices and processes.

46. Where any Petition is required to be published it shall be published in such form in the newspapers to be specified, for such duration and within such time as the Commission may direct.

47. In default of compliance with the requirements of the Regulations or directions of the Commission as regards the service of notices, summons or processes or the publication thereof, the Commission may either dismiss the Petition or give such other or further directions as it thinks fit.

48. No service or publication required to be done shall be deemed invalid by reason of any defect in the name or description of a person provided that the Commission is satisfied that such service is in other respects sufficient, and no proceeding shall be invalidated by reason of any defect or irregularity unless the Commission, on an objection taken, is of the opinion that substantial injustice has been caused by such defect or irregularity or there are otherwise sufficient reasons for doing so.

49. Each person to whom the notice of inquiry or the Petition is issued (hereinafter called the ‘respondent’) who intends to oppose or support the Petition shall file the reply and the documents relied upon within such period with seven copies. In the reply filed, the respondent shall specifically admit, deny or explain the facts stated in the notice of inquiry or the Petition and may also state such additional facts as he considers necessary for just decision of the case. The reply shall be signed and verified and supported by affidavit in the same manner as in the case of the Petition.

50. The respondent shall serve a copy of the reply along with the documents duly attested to be true copies on the petitioner or his authorised representative and file proof of such service with the office of the Commission.

51. Where the respondent states additional facts as may be necessary for the just decision of the case, the Commission may allow the petitioner to file a rejoinder to the reply filed by the respondents. The procedure mentioned above for filing of the reply shall apply mutatis mutandis to the filing of the rejoinder.

52.

(1) Every person who intends to file objection or comments in regard to a matter pending before the Commission, pursuant to the publication made for the purpose (other than the persons to whom notices, processes, etc. have been issued calling for reply) shall deliver to an Officer designated by the Commission for the purpose the statement of the objection or comments with copies of the documents and evidence in support thereof within the time fixed for the purpose.

(2) The Commission may permit such person or persons including associations, forums and bodes corporate as it may consider appropriate to participate in the proceedings before the Commission if, on the report received from the Officer, the Commission considers that the participation of such person or persons will facilitate the proceedings and the decision in the matter.

(3) Unless permitted by the Commission, the person filing objection or comments shall not necessarily be entitled to participate in the proceedings to make oral submissions. However, the Commission shall be entitled to take into account the objections and comments filed after giving such opportunity to the parties to the proceedings as the Commission considers appropriate to deal with the objections or comments.

53. The Commission may determine the stages, manner, the place, the date and the time of the hearing of the matter as it considers appropriate.

54.

(1) The Commission may decide the matter on the pleadings of the parties or may call for the parties to produce evidence by way of affidavit or lead oral evidence in the matter.

(2) If the Commission directs evidence of a party to be led by way of oral submission, the Commission may, if considered necessary or expedient, grant an opportunity to the other party to cross-examine the persons giving evidence.

(3) The Commission may, if considered necessary or expedient, direct that the evidence of any of the parties be recorded by an Officer or person designated for the purpose by the Commission.

(4) The Commission may direct the parties to file written note of arguments or submissions in the matter.

55. The Commission may, at any time before passing orders on any matter, require the parties or any one or more of them or any other person whom the Commission considers appropriate, to produce such documentary or other evidence as the Commission may consider necessary for the purpose of enabling it to pass orders.

56. The Commission may direct the summoning of the witnesses, discovery and production of any document or other material objects producible in evidence, requisition of any public record from any office, examination by an Officer of the Commission the books, accounts or other documents or information in the custody or control of any person which the Commission considers relevant to the matter.

57. In accordance with the section 193 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, who ever intentionally gives false evidence in any of the proceedings of the Commission or fabricates false evidence for the purpose of being used in any of the proceedings shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.

58. In accordance with Section 228 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, who ever intentionally offers any insult or causes any interruption in any of the proceedings of the Commission, shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to Rs.1000 or with both.

59.

(1) At any stage of the Proceedings the Commission shall be entitled to refer such issue or issues in the matter as it considers appropriate to persons including, but not limited to, the Officers and consultants of the Commission whom the Commission considers as qualified to give expert advice or opinion.

(2) The Commission may nominate from time to time any person including, but not limited to, the Officers and consultants to visit any place or places for inspection and report on the existence or status of the place or any facilities therein.

(3) The Commission, if it thinks fit, may direct the parties to appear before the persons designated in clause (1) or (2) above to present their respective views on the issues or matters referred to.

(4) The report or the opinion received from such person shall form a part of the record of the case and the parties shall be given the copies of the report or opinion given by the person designated by the Commission. The parties shall be entitled to file their version either in support or in opposition to the report or the opinion.

(5) The Commission shall duly take into account the report or the opinion given by the person, the reply filed by the parties while deciding the matter and if considered necessary the examination before the Commission of the person giving the report or the opinion.

60. Where, on the date fixed for hearing or any other date to which such hearing may be adjourned, any of the parties or his authorised agent or representative does not appear when the matter is called for hearing, the Commission may, in its discretion, either dismiss the Petition for default when the petitioner or the person who moves the Commission for hearing is in default or proceed ex-parte.

61. Where a Petition is dismissed in default or decided ex-parte, the person aggrieved may file an application within 30 days from the date of such dismissal or being proceeded ex parte, as the case may be, for recall of the order passed, and the Commission may recall the order on such terms as it thinks fit, if the Commission is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for the non appearance when the Petition was called for hearing.

62. The Commission shall pass orders on the Petition and the Chairperson and the Members of the Commission who hear the matter and vote on the decision shall sign the orders.

63. The reasons given by the Commission in support of the orders, including those by the dissenting Member, if any, shall form a part of the order and shall be available for inspection and supply of copies in accordance with these Regulations.

64. All orders and decisions issued or communicated by the Commission shall be certified by the signature of the Secretary or an Officer empowered in this behalf by the Chairperson and bear the official seal of the Commission.

65. All final orders of the Commission shall be communicated to the parties to the Proceedings under the signature of the Secretary or an Officer empowered in this behalf by the Chairperson or the Secretary.