COCHIN STATE POWER AND UGBT CORPORATION LTD. versus STATE OF KERALA

Citation: [1965] 3 S.C.R. 187 · Decided: 25-02-1965 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: K. SUBBA RAO · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 1 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

187 
A COCHIN STATE POWER AND UGBT CORPORATION LTD. 
v. 
STATE OF KERALA 
February 25, 1965 
B 
(K. StmBA RAo, J.C. SHAH AND R. S. BACHAWA'l', JJ.) 
Indian Electricity Act, 1910, s. 6(1)(2) and (4)-Scope of. 
The appellant held a licence for the supply of electrical enera 
In Kerala which. was granted for a period Of 25 years, and was sub-
ject to continuation for ten-year terms in the absence of a notice 
0 
bv the local authority or State Government of an election to pur-
~liase the undertaking. The first 25-year term of the licence expired 
on December 2, 1960, and prior to that, on October 24 and again on 
October 29, 1959, the State Electricity Board gave notice to the ap. 
pellant under s.6(1) of the Indian Electricity Act. 1910, to purchase 
the under taking on the expiry of the licence. On November 20, 1959, 
:the State Government also served notice on the appellant of ita 
D election to purchase the undertaking on December 2, 1960. 
In November 1960, the appellant filed a writ petition in the 
High Court seeking orders restraining the State Electricity Board 
and thoe respondent State Government from taking an_y action pur-
suant to the notices given by them. In the course of the hearing of 
the P!!tition, the State Electricity Boara waived and abandoned all 
i'tS rights Of purchase of the undertaking. The writ petition was 
B 
thereafter dismissed and it was held that the State Government 
was entitled to take further steps under its notice dated November 
20, 1959. An appeal against this decision to a Division Bench of the 
High Court was dismissed. 
In the appeal to the Supreme Court, the appellant contended, 
inter alia, that the State Electricity Board having duly elected under 
1. 6(1) to purchase the undertaking on the expiry Of the licence, the 
F State Government acquired no option of purchase under s. 6(2) of 
fue 1910 Act. 
HELD: Any option Of purchasing the undertaking on the expiry 
of the oeriod of 25 years specified in the licence under s. 6(1) vested 
in the State Electricity Board, and as the Board duly elected to pur-
chase the undertaking by the notice served on the appellants, the 
6 
State Government acquired no right or option of 
purchasing the 
undertaking under s. 6. fl93 G-Hl 
As s. 6 came into force less than eighteen months before Decein-
ber 2, 1960, it was impossible for the Board to have given notice to 
the State Government as required bv s. 6(4) of its intention to exer-
cise the option. On the principle of le:r: non cogit ad impassibilia 
s. 6( 4) must therefore be construed as not being applicable in the 
B 
circumstances of the case, so that the Board could, not be deemed 
to have elected not to purchase the undertaking under 
s. 6(4). 
[193 E-F] 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICl'ION: Civil Appeal No. 897 
of 
1963. 
Appeal from the judgment and order dated October 4, 1962 
of the Kerala High Court, Ernakulam, in Writ Appeal No. 17 of 
1962. 
188 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1965) 3 S.0 B. 
A.V. Viswanatha Sastri, Arun B. Saharaya and Sardar Baha-
A 
dur, for the appellant. 
V. P. Gopalan Nambiar, Advocate-General for the State of 
Kerala and V. A. Seyid Muhammad, for the respondent. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
Bachawat, J. The short question in this appeal is whether the 
B 
proposed acquisition of the electrical supply undertaking of 
the appellant by the State of Kerala in pursuance of the notice 
Ex. G, dated November 20, 1959 is authorised by s. 6 of the Indian 
Elei:tricity Act, 1910. 
The appellant is the holder of a license for the supply of elec- c 
trical energy in Ernakulam and other places in Cochin. The license 
was originally granted to the managing agents of the appellant 
under the Cochin Electricity Regulation III of 1902 then in force 
in Cochin and subsequently assigned to the appellant wiih the 
permission of the Cochin Government. On the merger of Travan-
core-Cochin with the Union of India, the Indian Electricity Act, D 
1910 was made applicable by the Part-B States Laws Act, 1951 
(Act lllof 1951) to the Travancore-Cochin area, and the Cochin 
Electricity Regulation stood repealed. The Electricity 
(Supply) 
Act, 1948 (Act 54 of 1948) was also made applicable to the Travan-
core-Cochin area by the Part-B Stat~s Laws Act, 1951. On March 
31, 1957 the Kerala Electricity Board. was constituted, and by s. 71 
E 
of Act 54 of 1948, any right and option to purchase the under-
taking of the licensee under the Indian Electricity Act, 1910 was 
transfer

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