The Supreme Court has set aside a Rajasthan High Court judgment, which directed the state to procure electricity from a private power generator at the rate quoted by the latter in its bid before the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC). A bench of Justices B R Gavai and P K Mishra held that “the High Court was not justified in issuing the mandamus in the nature which it has issued”. It quashed the HC order of September 20, 2021, passed by the Jaipur bench. The SC also set aside a June 1, 2023, order of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity staying the order of the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission granting approval to the distribution licensees in the state for procurement of 160 MW round-the-clock fuel agnostic power on medium term basis by way of a competitive bidding process. The HC order pertained to a 2009 move by the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited to procure 1,000 MW of power by a competitive bidding process.
