In Brief
The Supreme Court upheld the power of the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission to reject electricity bids not aligned to prevailing market prices under Section 63 of the Electricity Act, 2003. MB Power, an unselected bidder in a 2013 competitive bidding process, sought mandamus via writ petition to force procurement of its 200 MW electricity at Rs.5.517/kWh. The Court held that: (1) the Electricity Act is an exhaustive statutory code; disputes must be resolved through constituted forums, not writ petitions absent extraordinary circumstances; (2) the Commission retains regulatory power under Section 86(1)(b) to examine market alignment of tariffs; (3) clause 5.15 of Bidding Guidelines permits selective rejection of non-market-aligned bids, not merely collective rejection; and (4) mandamus cannot compel a contract manifestly harmful to consumer interest. The High Court's judgment was quashed. All three appeals were allowed.
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