BIHAR STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD versus THE PATNA ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO. LTD. & ORS.

Citation: [2011] 12 S.C.R. 393 · Decided: 01-09-2011 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ALTAMAS KABIR, D.K. JAIN, MARKANDEY KATJU · Disposal: Disposed off
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this case
Judgment (excerpt)

[2011] 12 S.C.R. 393 
BIHAR STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD 
v. 
THE PATNA ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO. LTD. & ORS. 
(I.A. No. 5. Civil Appeal No. 2630 of 1982) 
SEPTEMBER 01, 2011 
[ALTAMAS KABIR, D.K. JAIN AND MARKANDEY 
KATJU, JJ.) 
A 
B 
SETTLEMENT: Settlement of dues - Respondent no. 1 
(PESCO) taken over by appellant (BSEB) - Dispute regarding C 
payment of compensation. to PESCO by BSEB in respect of 
the assets of PESCO - Supreme Court directed BSEB to pay 
PESCO the purchase price on the basis of book value- Non-
compliance of directions for payment by BSEB - Interlocutory 
application - Supreme Court directed that net amount of o 
compensation payable to PESCO worked out to Rs. 135.45 
lakhs and out of the said amount, a sum of Rs. 99. 72 lakhs 
was already paid by BSEB to PESCO - Under the directions 
of the Supreme Court, the balance amount of Rs. 35. 7 4 lakhs 
paid by BSEB to the Bank of India to liquidate the dues of E 
PESCO - A further sum of Rs. 36. 59 lakhs shown as liability 
in the accounts of PESCO - The amount of Rs. 36.59 lakhs 
paid by PESCO to the Bank of India - Interlocutory application 
disposed of with direction that PESCO was entitled to Rs. 
36. 59 lakhs if it had made the payment on that account to the 
F 
Bank - Whether PESCO was entitled to receive from the 
BSEB the sum of Rs. 36.59 lacs - Held: PESCO is entitled 
to recover the said sum from BSEB, since it has been able 
to prove that the amount had been paid by it to the Bank. 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: I.A. No. 5. 
G 
IN 
Civil Appeal No. 2630 of 1982. 
393 
H 
394 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2011] 12 S.C.R. 
A 
From the Judgment & Order dated 22.07.1981 of the 
Calcutta High Court in appeal from Appellate Order No. 16 of 
1980. 
Gaurab Banerjee, ASG, Navin Prakash, Puneet Jain, 
Sushil Kumar Jain, Bina Gupta, Gopal Prasad, Gopal Singh, 
B Chandan Kumar for the appearing parites. 
The following order of the Court was delivered 
ORDER 
1. After the respondent No.1, Patna Electric Supply 
C Company Limited (PESCO), was taken over by the appellant, 
Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB), certain disputes arose 
regarding payment of compensation by BSEB to PESCO in 
respect of the assets of PESCO. This resulted in litigation and 
ultimately in C.A. No.2630 of 1982 this Court, while granting 
D leave, directed that BSEB would pay to PESCO the purchase 
. price on the basis of book-value in accordance with the 
provisions of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910. Since payments 
were not made by BSEB to PESCO in terms of the said 
directions, PESCO filed I.A. No.5 for appropriate directions to 
E be given to BSEB in this regard. 
2. On 8.1.2005, after noting· that what was payable by 
BSEB to PESCO was the book-value and not the market value 
of the assets of PESCO, this Court, after taking into 
F consideration the submissions of the respective parties, came 
to the conclusion that the net amount of compensation payable 
to PESCO worked out to Rs. 135.45 lakhs. Out of the said 
amount. a sum of Rs. 99.72 lakhs had already been paid by 
BSEB to PESCO, leaving a balance amount of Rs. 35.74 
lakhs payable by BSEB to PESCO. It was also noted that under 
G the directions of this Court the balance amount of Rs. 35. 74 
lakhs had been paid by BSEB to the Bank of India to liquidate 
the dues of 'PESCO. 
3. In addition to the above, a further sum of Rs. 36.59 lakhs 
H was shown as liability in the accounts of PESCO. It was noted 
BIHAR STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD v. PATNA 
395 
ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO. LTD. & ORS. 
that it was not the case of BSEB that the said amount had been 
A 
paid by it to the-aforesaid Bank. On the other hand, it was noted 
that it was PESCO's case that this amount had been paid by 
it to the Bank of India and in support thereof a 'No Objection 
Certificate' dated 21.3.2001 issued by the Bank in favour of 
PESCO had been placed on record. On the basis of the 
B 
aforesaid calculations and the submissions made on behalf of 
the respective parties, I.A. No.5 was disposed of with the 
following observations : 
(1) The amount of consumer dues calculated while arriving c 
at the book value of the assets of PESCO cannot be 
questioned by BSEB at this stage; 
(2) PESCO is entitled to the sum of Rs.36.59 lakhs 
provided it has made the payment on that account to the 
Bank; and 
D 
(3) PESCO is entitled to interest in the manner above 
stated on filing requisite material on record along with an 
affidavit showing payment of interest. 
-
4. Thereafter, the mat
Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.