Nabha Power Limited & Anr. Vs Punjab State Power Corporation Limited & Anr. (Supreme Court of India)
Supreme Court held that press release cannot be the basis of changing the law. Exemption under the Customs Act has to be via issuance of notification as provided by the Customs Act. Thus, press release cannot be basis for giving away with old legal regime.
Facts- The present appeal arises from the judgment dated 30.06.2014 of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (for short the “APTEL”) in Appeal No. 29 of 2013. By the said judgement, the APTEL dismissed the appeal of the appellant and confirmed the order dated 12.11.2012 of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (for short the “State Commission”), insofar as issue no. 1 discussed therein was concerned. That issue concerned the aspect of Mega Power Policy and the effect of the Press Release of 01.10.2009.
Conclusion- The press release of 01.10.2009 certainly does not fulfil the meaning of the word “order” as understood in legal parlance. As explained earlier, the Press Release with all its future eventualities and conditionalities is only a proposal and it is only after the undertakings were agreed to be given by the State Government that a final shape was given in the form of a Section 25 customs notification on 11.12.2009 and by the policy document of 14.12.2009. The press release announcing the cabinet approval of certain modifications envisaged in the existing Mega Power Policy is not law as defined in Clause 1.1 of the PPA.
