THE JHARKHAND GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY 20 Poush, 1938 (S) No. 93 Ranchi Tuesday 10th January, 2017 Notification 9th January, 2017 Notification No. 60--In exercise of the powers conferred on it under 181 read with Section 92 and Section 127 of the Electricity Act, 2003 and all powers enabling it in that behalf, the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission hereby makes the following Regulations, namely:- JSERC (CONDUCT OF BUSINESS) REGULATIONS, 2016 CHAPTER I: GENERAL Short title, commencement and extent These Regulations shall be called the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission (Conduct of Business) Regulations, 2016; These Regulations shall come into force from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette of the Government of Jharkhand; These Regulations shall supersede the JSERC (Conduct of Business) Regulations, 2011 read with all amendments thereto, as applicable to the subject matter of these Regulations; These Regulations shall extend to the entire state of Jharkhand; Definitions and interpretation In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires- 2 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday 10th January, 2017 a) “Act” means the Electricity Act, 2003; b) “Adjudication” means the process of arriving at decisions on Petitions submitted to the Commission; c) “Chairperson” means the Chairperson of the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission d) “Commission” means the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission constituted under Section 82 of the Act; e) “Consultant” includes any individual, firm, body or association of persons, not in the employment of the Commission who may be appointed as such to assist the Commission on any matter required to be dealt with by the Commission under the Act; f) “Member” means a member of the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission; g) “Officer” means an officer of the Commission; h) “Petition” means and includes all petitions, applications, complaints, appeals, replies, rejoinders, supplemental pleadings, other papers and documents filed in relation thereto, and the word “Petitioner” shall be construed accordingly; i) “Proceedings” means and includes proceedings of all nature that the Commission may conduct in the discharge of its function under the Act; j) “Receiving Officer” means an officer designated by the Commission to receive Petitions; k) “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission; Words or expressions used and not defined in these Regulations but defined in the Act shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act; Commission’s office, office hours, and sittings The head office of the Commission, until further order, shall be located at 2nd floor, Rajendra Jawan Bhawan, Sainik Bazar, Main Road, Ranchi, 834001; Unless otherwise directed, the headquarters and other offices of the Commission shall be open daily except on Saturdays and Sundays and Government holidays notified by the Government of Jharkhand. The working hours of the Commission and its other offices shall be between 10.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. with lunch break from 1.30 p.m. to 2.00 p.m. 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; 3 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday 10th January, 2017 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; LANGUAGE OF THE COMMISSION The proceedings of the Commission shall be conducted either in English or in Hindi. All petitions shall be submitted in Hindi or English. If the petition submitted is in English then it should be filed with an executive summary of the petition in Hindi; Any document contained in any other language other than Hindi or English may be accepted by the Commission only if the same is accompanied by a translation thereof in Hindi or English; A translation which is agreed to by the parties to the proceedings or which one of the parties may furnish with an authenticity certificate of the person who had translated it to Hindi or English may be accepted by the Commission in appropriate cases as a true translation. The Commission in appropriate cases may direct translation of the petition, pleadings, documents and other material to English or Hindi by an Officer or person designated by the Commission for the purpose; The Commission shall publish all its Regulations in English with translated version in Hindi. In case of any difference or dispute in between the English and Hindi version, the English version of the Regulation shall prevail; SEAL OF THE COMMISSION The Commission shall have a seal of its own. The impression of the seal shall be certified and kept on record of the Commission; Every order or communication made, notice issued or certified copy granted by the Commission shall be stamped with the seal of the Commission and shall be certified by an Officer designated for the purpose; officers of the commission The Commission shall have the power to appoint the 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; The Commission may appoint Consultants to assist the Commission in 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; secretary of the commission The Secretary shall be the Principal Officer of the Commission and shall perform such functions as are assigned to him/her by these Regulations or by the Chairperson/Member(s). 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: 4 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday 10th January, 2017 a) He/ She shall have the custody of the seal and records of the Commission; b) He/ She shall receive or cause to receive all petitions, appeals, applications or references pertaining to the Commission on behalf of the Commission; c) He/ She shall scrutinize the documents, including, inter alia, petitions, appeals, applications or references and shall be entitled to seek clarifications or rectifications upon the same and issue appropriate directions pertaining to the acceptance or rejection of such documents; d) He / She shall prepare or cause to be prepared briefs and summaries of all pleadings before the Commission in the discharge of its functions in this regard and such summary shall indicate the names of the parties and the relief sought in verbatim without going into the merits of the pleading; e) He / She shall assist in the proceedings conducted by the Commission; f) He/ She shall issue certified copies of the order passed by the Commission; g) He / She shall ensure compliance of the orders passed by the Commission; h) He / She shall have the right to collect from the Government or other offices, companies and firms or any other party as may be directed by the Chairperson/Member(s), 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 Chairperson/Member(s); i) In the absence of the law officer, the Secretary shall certify/ sign affidavits on behalf of the Commission; The Secretary may, with the approval of the Chairperson, or in the event of vacancy of the position of the Chairperson with the approval of the Member(s), may delegate to any other officer of the Commission any function required by these Regulations or otherwise, to be exercised by the Secretary; In the absence of the Secretary, such other officer of the Commission, as may be designated by the Chairperson, or in the event of vacancy of the position of the Chairperson, as may be designated by the Member(s), may exercise all the functions of the Secretary; The Chairperson, or in the event of vacancy of the position of the Chairperson, the Member(s) may delegate to the officers such functions including functions that may be required by these Regulations to be performed by the Secretary; Save and except the powers exercised under sections 86 and 181 of the Act, the Commission may, by a general or special order in writing, delegate to any Member or Officers of the Commission such of its powers and functions under the Act as it may deem necessary, subject to such terms and conditions, if any, as may be stated in such order 5 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday 10th January, 2017 The Chairperson, or in the event of vacancy of the position of the Chairperson, the Member(s), shall at all times have the authority, either on an application made to it by any interested or affected party or suo-motu to review, revoke, revise, modify, amend, alter or otherwise change any order passed or action taken by the Secretary or Officers of the Commission, if the Chairperson, or in the event of vacancy of the position of the Chairperson, the Member(s) considers the same to be appropriate; All the communications to the Commission shall be addressed to the Secretary of the Commission. meetings of the commission This section shall be applicable to meetings of the Commission, other than the adjudicatory proceedings of the Commission; The quorum for the meetings of the Commission shall be as per Clause 10 of these Regulations; If in any meeting of the Commission duly convened, the quorum is not present, the meeting shall stand adjourned for the next working day at the same time and venue; The Chairperson shall preside over the meetings and conduct the business. If the Chairperson is unable to be present in the meetings for any reason, or where there is no Chairperson, the senior most Member present shall preside at the meeting; All questions which come up before any meeting of the Commission shall be decided by majority vote of the Members present and in the event of equality of votes, the Chairperson or in his absence, the person presiding shall have a second or casting vote; Save as otherwise provided in these Regulations, every Member shall have one vote; The Secretary or in his absence any Officer of the Commission as such designated officer, shall record the minutes of the meetings and maintain a register which will, amongst other things, contain the names and designation of Members and invitees present in the meeting, a record of proceedings and notes of dissent, if any. The draft minutes shall, as soon as practicable, be sent to the Chairperson and/or the attending Member(s); Decisions taken in a meeting of the Commission shall be recorded in the minutes in a clear and concise manner, along with reasons. In case the minutes record any statement/submission made by an invitee, a copy of the minutes shall be sent to such invitee; The minutes of the meeting shall be confirmed by circulation after the meeting or at the next meeting of the Commission; 6 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday 10th January, 2017 Chapter II: proceedings before the commission proceedings before the commission The Commission may hold hearings, meetings, discussions, deliberations and conduct inquiries, investigations and consultations, from time to time as it may consider appropriate in the discharge of its functions under the Act. The Secretary, any other officer or any other person whom the Commission may appoint, may participate and assist the Commission in its proceedings; All matters which the Commission is required under the Act to undertake and discharge through hearings of the affected parties and such other matter as the Commission may consider appropriate shall be done through proceedings; All proceedings before the Commission shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of Section 193 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) and the Commission shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for the purposes of sections 345 and 346 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974). All other matters shall be decided by the Commission administratively through the meeting of the Chairperson and Members or by such other officers or persons to whom the powers and functions have been delegated; All questions which may come up before any meeting of the Commission shall be decided by majority vote of the Members present and in the event of equality of votes, the Chairperson or in his absence, the person presiding shall have a second or casting vote; No Member shall exercise his vote on a decision unless he is present during all the substantial hearings of the Commission on such matter; The Commission may decide urgent matters by the procedure of circulation subject to the following conditions: Where a matter is required to be decided by the Commission urgently, the Chairman may, instead of bringing the matter for discussion at a meeting of the Commission, direct that it may be circulated to the Members for opinion and if all the Members are unanimous and the Chairman thinks that a discussion at a meeting of the Commission is not necessary, the matter shall be decided without such discussion; If the Members are not unanimous and if the Chairman thinks that a discussion at a meeting is necessary, the matter shall be discussed at a meeting of the Commission; To ensure timely and expeditious disposal of proceedings, the Commission may adopt suitable procedures for any proceeding, including but not limited to – a) joinder of cases for hearing b) appointing a representative for a class of consumers/parties to present combined pleadings, affidavits and documents, as also to present the case of such class of consumers/parties; 7 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday 10th January, 2017 c) seeking testimony or advice or opinion on specific issues; and/or d) appointing amicus curiae; Quorum For all initial procedural issues and also adjudicatory proceedings of the Commission, generally the quorum of the Commission shall be two among the three Members; In the event that the posts of Chairperson and/or any one of the Member are vacant or one member proceeds on leave for a period more than 30 days, the quorum of the Commission shall be one Member for all procedural and adjudicatory proceedings. In such situation the sole member shall also exercise all administrative and financial powers of the Commission; conduct of proceedings in the absence of chairperson The Chairperson shall preside over the meeting(s)/proceeding(s) of the Commission. If he is unable to attend the meeting(s)/proceeding(s) of the Commission, any other Member nominated by the Chairperson on his behalf and in the absence of such nomination or where there is no Chairperson, any Member chosen by the Members present from among themselves shall preside at the meeting(s)/proceeding(s) Authority to Represent A person who is a party to any proceeding before the Commission may either appear in person or may authorize any other professional, who is a member of a statutory body or any of its officers, to present its case before the Commission and plead on his behalf before the Commission; [Explanation: A member of a statutory body means a practicing Charted Accountant, Company Secretary or Cost and Works Accountant, Electrical Engineer.] A legal practitioner appearing and acting in the proceedings on behalf of any person before the Commission shall file a vakalatnama, duly executed by or on behalf of that person for whom he appears; Any person other than legal practitioner representing a party before the Commission shall file a memorandum of appearance in the form in Annexure-1 duly signed by him; Any representative who is found to be guilty of misconduct in his profession by any authority entitled to institute disciplinary proceedings against him shall be disqualified to represent before the Commission; The proceedings initiated before the Commission should be signed by the Managing Director or a Director of the Company. Any other person signing the petition should have authorization from the Board of Directors by a specific or general resolution; 8 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday 10th January, 2017 Initiation of Proceedings The Commission may initiate any proceedings suo-motu or on a petition filed by any affected or interested person; When the Commission initiates the proceedings, it shall be by a due notice issued by the Commission. The Commission may give such orders and directions as may be deemed necessary including, inter alia, for serving of notices to concerned parties, for filing of replies and rejoinders against or in support of the Petition in such form as the Commission may direct. The Commission may, if it considers appropriate, issue orders for publication of the Petition inviting comments from the public or any class of persons on the issue(s) involved in the proceedings in such form as the Commission may direct; While issuing the notice of inquiry, the Commission may, in suo- motu proceedings and other appropriate cases, designate an officer of the Commission or any other person whom the Commission considers appropriate to: a) present the case of a party which cannot afford to engage its representative, or b) act as amicus curiae to assist the Commission in its proceedings; Petitions and Pleadings before the Commission All Petitions to be filed before the Commission shall be typewritten, cyclostyled or printed neatly and legibly on one side of white A4 sized paper and every page shall be consecutively numbered. The Commission may in addition, seek a copy of Petition in electronic form on such terms and conditions, as the Commission may direct. The contents of the petition shall be divided appropriately into separate paragraphs, which shall be numbered serially. The petition shall be accompanied by such authenticated documents as required, listed serially and marked as Annexures alphabetically in capital letters along with supporting data and statement(s); The Utilities/ Licensees shall file the Business Plan & the MYT Petition at the beginning of a Control Period and the Annual Performance Review as well as the True-up Petitions as per the timelines specified in the relevant Regulations of the Commission. The MYT Petition shall be filed based on the reasonable assumptions of the underlying financial and operational parameters, as submitted in the Business Plan by the Utility/ Licensee. All petitions shall be accompanied with fees, as prescribed by the Commission under the Schedule-I to these Regulations; All pleading shall set out clearly and concisely: a) a statement of the relief sought from the Commission; and b) reasons why the Commission should grant the requested relief; General Headings The general heading in all petitions before the Commission shall be in accordance withForm-1 (Annexure-2). 9 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday 10th January, 2017 affidavit in support Petitions or objections or counters filed shall be verified by an affidavit and every such affidavit shall be in Form-2 (Annexure-3); 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 the affidavit and shall be signed and sworn before a person lawfully authorized to take and receive affidavits. The deponent shall furnish information with regard to any proceeding pending in any court of law or tribunal or arbitrator or any other authority, wherein the deponent is a party and where issues arising and/or relief sought are identical or similar to the issues arising in the matter pending before the Commission; Every affidavit shall clearly and separately indicate statements that are true to the a) Belief of the deponent; b) Knowledge of the deponent; and c) Information received by the deponent 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(s) of the information and a statement that the deponent believes that information to be true; Any person, Association, body, Corporate etc. gives false evidence intentionally in proceedings before the Commission or fabricates evidence for the purpose of being used in proceedings shall be liable for prosecution under section 193 of the Indian Penal Code; Presentation and Scrutiny of the Petition(s) Seven sets of the petitions shall be filed and each set of the petition shall be complete in all respects. The fees, as prescribed by the Commission, shall be payable along with the petition; All petitions and other documents shall be filed before the Secretary of the Commission at the Office of the Commission during the working hours, on all working days. All petitions shall be presented in person or by any duly authorized agent or representative at the headquarters or such other filing centre(s) as may be notified by the Commission from time to time. The petitions may also be sent by registered post with acknowledgement due to the Commission at the place mentioned above; The vakalatnama in favour of the Advocate in accordance with the provisions of law and, where the petition is presented by the authorized agent, the document authorizing the agent shall be filed along with the petition, if not already filed on the record of the case; Upon receipt of the petition or other documents, the designated officer (the officer of the Commission designated for the purpose) shall acknowledge the receipt by stamping and endorsing the date of its receipt/presentation and shall issue an acknowledgement; 10 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday 10th January, 2017 The designated officer shall affix the receipt stamp with the seal of the Commission on the first page of all the copies and put his/her initials on the stamp for the purpose; The designated officer shall enter the details thereof in the Diary Register prescribed as per Annexure-4 and assign a diary number. The same diary number shall be entered on all the copies of the documents so received; The format of the receipt stamp shall be as under: JSERC, Ranchi Receipt No. Date Receiving Officer 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 presentation of the petition, and the post or courier acknowledgement shall be considered as acknowledgement of receipt; The presentation and receipt of the Petition shall be duly entered in a register maintained for the purpose by the office of the Commission. Such register shall be maintained in the form and manner as may be determined by the Commission, from time to time, showing serial no. of Petition, date of its receipt, names and addresses of the parties, brief subject matter of the Petition, claim/relief sought, interim relief sought, if any, approximate number of pages and date of disposal with final result thereof; The receiving officer may decline to accept the petition which is not in conformity with the provisions of the Act and Regulations or directions given by the Commission or otherwise defective or which is presented otherwise than in accordance with the Regulations; Provided that no petition shall be refused for a defect in the pleading or in its presentation, without giving an opportunity in writing to the person filing the petition to rectify the defect within such time as may be given by the receiving officer for this purpose; The receiving officer may be authorized by the Commission to carry out a preliminary scrutiny of the petition, application or appeal, in order to ensure that it satisfies the following requirements: a) The petition, application or appeal is couched in a decorous language befitting the nature of the quasi-judicial proceedings and does not contain any reference which is unbecoming in respect of any organization or agency or any person employed in government, public or private sector; and be free from any insinuation, imputation and allegation of a personal nature against any individual or functionary whether from government, public or private sector. b) The receiving officer shall ensure that the petitions or applications or appeals are registered only after carrying out the appropriate rectification of the defects pointed out through letter notifying the defects.