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

They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette.

They extend to the State of Maharashtra.

The Bombay General Clauses Act, 1904 shall apply for the purpose of the present Regulations.

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:-
 
'Act' means the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998 (Act 14 of 1998).

'Commission' means the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission, a body corporate, established under Section 17(1) of the Act, consisting of its Chairperson and Members.

'Officer' means an officer of the Commission.

'Petition' means and includes all petitions, applications, complaints, appeals, replies, rejoinders, supplemental pleadings, other papers and documents.

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

'Regulations' means these regulations.

'Chairman' means the Chairman of the Commission.

'Secretary' means the Secretary of the Commission.

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. Words and expressions used in these Regulations but not defined either in the Regulations or in the Act but defined in the Indian Electricity Act, 1910 or the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in those Acts.

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.

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

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

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 in English, provided that the Commission may allow any person to plead or represent the case in Marathi language.

No petition, document or other matter contained in any language other than English or in Marathi if permitted by the Commission, may be accepted by the Commission unless the same is accompanied by a translation thereof in English. Such translation may be dispensed with at the discretion of the Commission.

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 into English, may be accepted by the Commission as a true translation.

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

The Commission shall have the power to appoint Secretary, officers and other employees for discharging various duties. It shall 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 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.

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.

The Commission, in discharge of its functions under the Act, may take such assistance from the Secretary as it may deem fit.

In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of the above sub-regulations, the Secretary shall have the following powers and perform the following duties, viz:-

He shall have custody of the records and the seal of the Commission.

He shall receive or cause to receive all petitions, applications or reference pertaining to the Commission. 

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.

He shall assist the Commission in the proceedings relating to the powers exercisable by the Commission.

He shall authenticate the orders passed by the Commission.

He shall ensure compliance of the orders passed by the Commission.

He shall have the right to collect from the State Government or other offices, companies and firms or any other party as may be directed by the Commission, such information and record, report, documents, etc., as may be considered useful for the purpose of efficient discharge of the functions of the Commission under the Act and place the same before the Commission.

The Commission may delegate to the officers such functions including functions that may be required by these regulations to be exercised by the Secretary on terms and conditions the Commission may specify for the purpose.

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.

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.

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.

It shall be open to the Commission to permit any association or other bodies corporate or any group of consumers to participate in any proceedings before the Commission.
 
It shall be open to the Commission, for the sake of timely completion of proceedings, to direct bunching up associations/groups referred to above so that they can make collective affidavits.

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

The Commission may appoint any officer or any other person to represent consumers' interest, if considered necessary.
   
The Commission may direct payment to the officer or person appointed to represent the consumers' interest such fees, costs and expenses by such of the parties in the proceedings as the Commission may consider appropriate.

The Quorum for the proceedings before Commission shall be three :
 
Provided that the Commission may, by majority, delegate the power to decide specified matters or issues to a bench consisting of two full time Members, but in such instances, the Chairperson or member presiding over a bench shall not exercise a second or casting vote :

Provided further that in the case of a proceeding to review any decision taken by the bench of the Commission consisting of two Members or for consideration of any issue which could not be decided on account of equality of votes in the bench in favour of or against a proposed decision or action, the matter will be considered by the Commission with a quorum of three Members.

No act or decision of the Commission would be invalid on the ground that it was heard by less than the prescribed number of Members and/or that any Member of the Commission did not participate on one or more occasions of the hearing.

The general heading in all petitions before the Commission and in all advertisements and notices shall be in Form I.

The petitions filed shall be supported by an affidavit, which shall be sworn before the Secretary or such officer of the Commission, as may be designated or notarised. Every such affidavit shall be in Form- 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.

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.

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.

In accordance with section 193 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, whoever 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.

All petitions shall be filed with six 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.

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 agent or representative, the document authorising the agent or representative shall be filed along with the petition, if not already filed on the record of the case.

Upon receipt, 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.

The presentation and the receipt of the petition shall be duly entered in the register maintained for the purpose by the office of the Commission. Such register shall be maintained in the form and manner as may be prescribed by the Commission, showing serial no. of petition/complaint, date of its receipt, names and address of the parties, brief subject matter of the petition, etc., claim/relief sought, interim relief, if any, and date of disposal with final result thereof.

In the event of the petition or pleadings not conforming to the provisions and requirements of the Act and regulations, the Secretary may refuse to get it registered and keep or cause to be kept such petition in objection with the approval of the Commission and the objection shall be removed by the petitioner within 10 days from the date of specifying such objection or within such time that may be extended at his discretion by the Secretary. On failure to remove objections within the time allowed, the petition, etc., shall stand dismissed.

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

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.

If, on scrutiny, the Petition is not refused or any order of refusal is rectified 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, as stated in Regulation 34.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 being not less than two weeks and in such number of copies not less than six as may be fixed by the Commission. 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 the 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.
 
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 at the time of filing the reply.

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.

Every person who intends to file objection or comments in regard to a matter pending before the Commission, in pursuance to the advertisement and publication issued for the purpose (other than the persons to whom notices, processes, etc., have been issued calling for a 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.

The Commission may permit or invite such person or persons including the associations, forums and bodies corporate holding the certificate of registration 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.

Unless permitted and/or invited by the Commission, the person filing objection or comments shall not 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.

Where the petitioner or the defendant is called or supposed to appear in person, does not appear in person nor shows sufficient cause for nonappearance, the Commission may dismiss, the application or complaint if he is the applicant or complainant or proceed exparte if he or she is the opponent or respondent.
 
Where neither the applicant nor the opponent appears when the application is called for hearing, the Commission may dismiss it. The dismissal of the application or complaint, however, does not bar a fresh petition or complaint in respect of the same cause of action. The applicant or complainant may also apply within 30 days from the date of the order of dismissal, for an order to set aside such dismissal. And, if the Commission is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for non-appearance, it shall pass an order setting aside the dismissal of the application or complaint and shall fix a day for proceeding with the application or complaint.

Where the applicant or complainant appears and the opponent and the other side does not appear, the applicant or the complainant has to prove service of summons on the opponent or the respondent; if the service of the process of summons is proved, the Commission may proceed exparte against the opponent and may pass necessary orders in accordance with law, justice and equity.

Records of the Commission, except those parts which, for reasons specified by the Commission, are confidential or privileged, shall be open to inspection by all, subject to the payment of the fee and complying with the terms as the Commission may direct.

The Commission may, on such terms and conditions as the Commission considers appropriate, provide for the supply of the certified copies of the documents and papers available with the Commission to any person.

The Commission may, by order, direct that any information, documents and other papers and materials produced before the Commission or any of its Officers, consultants, representatives or otherwise which may be, or come into, their possession or custody, shall be confidential or privileged and shall not be available for inspection or supply of copies, and the Commission may also direct that such document, papers, or materials shall not be used in any manner except as specifically authorised by the Commission.

Subject to the provisions of the Act and these Regulations, the Commission may, from time to time, issue orders and directions in regard to the implementation of the Regulations and procedure to be followed and various matters which the Commission has been empowered by these Regulations to specify or direct.

Nothing in these Regulations shall be deemed to limit or otherwise affect the inherent power of the Commission to make such orders as may be necessary for ends of justice or to prevent the abuse of the process of the Commission.

Nothing in these Regulations shall bar the Commission from adopting in conformity with the provisions of the Act, a procedure, which is at variance with any of the provisions of these Regulations, if the Commission, in view of the special circumstance of a matter or class of matters and for reasons to be recorded in writing, deems it necessary or expedient for dealing with such a matter or class of matters.

Nothing in these Regulations shall, expressly or impliedly, bar the Commission to deal with any matter or exercise any power under the Act for which no resolutions have been framed, and the Commission may deal with such matters, powers and functions in a manner it thinks fit.

The Commission may, at any time and on such terms as to costs or otherwise, as it may think fit, amend any defect or error in any proceedings before it, and all necessary amendments shall be made for the purpose of determining the real question or issue arising in the proceedings.

If any difficulty arises in giving effect to any of the provisions of these regulations, the Commission may, by general or special order, do anything not being inconsistent with the provisions of the Act, which appears to it to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of removing the difficulties.

Subject to the provisions of the Act, the time prescribed by these regulations or by order of the Commission for doing any act may be extended (whether it has already expired or not) or abridged for sufficient reason by order of the Commission.

Failure to comply with any requirement of these regulations shall not invalidate any proceeding merely by reason of such failure unless the Commission is of the view that such failure has resulted in miscarriage of justice.

Subject to such conditions and limitation as may be directed by the Commission, the costs of and incidental to all proceedings shall be awarded at the discretion of the Commission and the Commission shall have full power to determine by whom or out of what funds and to what extent such costs are to be paid and give all necessary directions for the aforesaid purposes.

The costs shall be paid within 30 days from the date of the order or within such time as the Commission may, by order, direct. The order of the Commission awarding costs shall be executed in the same manner as the decree/order of a Civil Court.

The Secretary shall ensure enforcement and compliance of the orders passed by the Commission, by the persons concerned in accordance with the provisions of the Act and regulations and, if necessary, may seek the orders of the Commission for directions.