M/S.Prime Gold International Ltd., v. Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (Tnpdcl)

Page1 of 12 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS DATED: 07-08-2026 CORAM THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MOHAMMED SHAFFIQ WP Nos. 31438, 31443, 31455 and 31449 of 2026 and WMP Nos.34549, 34550, 34554, 34555, 34581, 34584, 34571 and 34572 of 2026 WP No.31438 of 2026 M/s.Prime Gold International Ltd., Uliveeranapalli village, Belagondapalli Post, Thally Road, Hosur-635 114 Krishnagiri Dist. Repd by its Authorized Signatory S.A.Rajha ..Petitioner(s) Vs

¶1Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (TNPDCL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Chairman and Managing Director

¶2Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Ltd., (TNGECL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Managing Director

¶3The Chief Engineer /NCES (TNGECL) 2nd Floor, 144, Anna Salai,

¶4The Superintending Engineer TNPDCL Udumalpet Electricity Distribution Circle, Udumalpet. ..Respondent(s) Page2 of 12 Prayer: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records of the 1st respondent's impugned Board proceedings in (per) FB TNPDCL Proceedings No.44 dated 01.08.2023 and quash the same as illegal arbitrary, contemptuous and as abuse of process of court and consequently direct the respondents 2 to 4 to allow utility change / Migration in Petitioner's WEG No.039214340779 by terminating the existing Energy purchase Agreements (EPA) dated 11.09.2023 and execute a fresh Energy wheeling Agreement (EWA) under the captive scheme and further direct to make payment of the outstanding dues payable to the petitioner towards the wind energy sold by the petitioner till the date of the termination of the EPA dated 11.09.2023 as per their respective invoices along with interest at 1% per a month for the if any delay in payments within a reasonable time. WP No.31443 of 2026 Vethasri Wind Mills P Ltd., No.1074P, Chentil Nagar, No.7 Main Road, KTC Nagar, Tirunelveli 11 Rep. By its Authorized Signatory Athimoolam ..Petitioner(s) Vs

¶1Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (TNPDCL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Chairman and Managing Director

2.Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Ltd., (TNGECL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Managing Director Page3 of 12

¶3The Chief Engineer /NCES (TNGECL) 2nd Floor, 144, Anna Salai,

4.The Superintending Engineer TNPDCL Tirunelveli Electricity Distribution Circle, Tirunelveli. ..Respondent(s) Prayer: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records of the 1st respondent's impugned Board proceedings in (per) FB TNPDCL Proceedings No.44 dated 01.08.2023 and quash the same as illegal arbitrary, contemptuous and as abuse of process of court and consequently direct the respondents 2 to 4 to allow utility change / Migration in Petitioner's WEG No.079224723716 by terminating the existing Energy purchase Agreements (EPA) dated 01.09.2024 and execute a fresh Energy wheeling Agreement (EWA) under the captive scheme and further direct to make payment of the outstanding dues payable to the petitioner towards the wind energy sold by the petitioner till the date of the termination of the EPA dated 01.09.2024 as per their respective invoices along with interest at 1% per a month for the if any delay in payments within a reasonable time. WP No.31455 of 2026 M/s.Ultra Wind Energy LLP, 89/1, Marimuthu Street, Erode 638 001 Rep. By its Authorized Signatory Mohammed Meera Sheik Ismail. ..Petitioner(s) Vs Page4 of 12

1.Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (TNPDCL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Chairman and Managing Director

¶2Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Ltd., (TNGECL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Managing Director

¶3The Chief Engineer /NCES (TNGECL) 2nd Floor, 144, Anna Salai,

¶4The Superintending Engineer TNPDCL Tirunelveli Electricity Distribution Circle, Tirunelveli. ..Respondent(s) Prayer: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records of the 1st respondent's impugned Board proceedings in (per) FB TNPDCL Proceedings No.44 dated 01.08.2023 and quash the same as illegal arbitrary, contemptuous and as abuse of process of court and consequently direct the respondents 2 to 4 to allow utility change / Migration in Petitioner's WEG Nos.079224723235 and 079224723075 by terminating the existing Energy purchase Agreements (EPA) dated 01.06.2025 and execute a fresh Energy wheeling Agreement (EWA) under the captive scheme and further direct to make payment of the outstanding dues payable to the petitioner towards the wind energy sold by the petitioner till the date of the termination of the EPA dated 01.06.2025 as per their respective invoices along with interest at 1% per a month for the if any delay in payments within a reasonable time. Page5 of 12 WP No.31449 of 2026 M/s.Mohan Mushroom Farms, S.F.No.561, Sampala Thottam, Valasupalayam Village, J.Krishnapuram Post, Sulur Taluk, Coimbatore Rep. By its Authorized Signatory Eswaran Palanisamy Gounder. ..Petitioner(s) Vs

¶1Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (TNPDCL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Chairman and Managing Director

¶2Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Ltd., (TNGECL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Managing Director

¶3The Chief Engineer /NCES (TNGECL) 2nd Floor, 144, Anna Salai,

¶4The Superintending Engineer TNPDCL Palladam Electricity Distribution Circle, Palladam. ..Respondent(s) Prayer: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records of the 1st respondent's impugned Board proceedings in (per) FB TNPDCL Proceedings No.44 dated 01.08.2023 and quash the same as illegal arbitrary, contemptuous and as abuse of process of court and consequently direct the respondents 2 to 4 Page6 of 12 to allow utility change / Migration in Petitioner's WEG No.039234392161 by terminating the existing Energy purchase Agreements (EPA) dated 01.05.2025 and execute a fresh Energy wheeling Agreement (EWA) under the captive scheme and further direct to make payment of the outstanding dues payable to the petitioner towards the wind energy sold by the petitioner till the date of the termination of the EPA dated 01.05.2025 as per their respective invoices along with interest at 1% per a month for the if any delay in payments within a reasonable time. For Petitioner(s) in all petitions : Mr.R.S.Pandiyaraj For Respondent(s) in all petitions : Mr.D.R.Arun Kumar, Standing Counsel. COMMON ORDER These writ petitions have been filed challenging the order passed by the first respondent dated 01.08.2023 and seeking a direction to the respondents 2 to 4 to allow utility change / Migration in Petitioner's WEG Nos. 039214340779, 079224723716, 079224723235, 079224723075 and 039234392161 by terminating the existing Energy Purchase Agreements (EPA) dated

11.09.2023, 01.09.2024, 01.06.2025 and 01.05.2025 to a fresh Energy Wheeling Agreement (EWA) under the captive scheme and also to direct the respondents to make payment of outstanding dues payable to the petitioners, along with interest at 1% per month for any delay in payments. Page7 of 12

¶2Learned counsel for petitioners and respondents would submit in unison that under similar circumstances, this Court in W.P.No.13729 of 2025 vide order dated 22.04.2025, issued the following directions and that the same directions may be issued in these writ petitions: "8. It can be seen that identical board proceedings have been set aside by this Court by the order dated 30.08.2019 and the said order stood confirmed upto the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. The only argument that is made is that the Board has revisited based on the late payment surcharge charges. That again was again the subject matter of Division Bench of this Court of which I am also one of the member (Mr.Justice D.Bharatha Chakravarthy) and by an order dated

03.01.2023 it was held as follows and it is essential to extract paragraph Nos.2 & 5 which reads as under: "2. Mr.P.S.Raman, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners/appellants submitted that the impugned orders of the learned Single Judge passed in the writ petitions are patently unsustainable, in view of the Electricity (Late Payment Surcharge and Related Matters) Rules, 2022 (for short, -"the said Rules") notified by the Ministry of Power. Rules 3 and 5 of the said Rules enable the petitioners/appellants to make the payment of arrears to the respondent along with late payment surcharge from the date of default. The said Rules are retrospective in nature and Page8 of 12 applicable for all the cases irrespective of the dates of default, Therefore, the impugned orders of the learned Single Judge are liable to go.

¶5Learned counsel appearing for the respondent heavily opposed the prayer to condone the delay and submitted that the delay of 237, 252 and 258 days in filing the writ appeals against the orders dated 7.3.2022, 25.3.2022 and 28.3.2022 passed in W.P.Nos.4933, 6977 and 6938 of 2022 has not been sufficiently explained by the petitioners/appellants. Secondly, the learned Single Judge, in the impugned orders, has followed the similar order dated 30.8.2019 passed in W.P.No.5196 of 2019 etc., which was affirmed by a Division Bench of this Court in its judgment dated

18.2.2020 in W.A.No.4189 of 2019, which has also been confirmed by the Apex Court vide order dated

24.9.2020 in S.L.P.Nos.8513~8518 of 2020. Therefore, there is no bonafide in filing the petitions to condone the delay and there is no merit in the writ appeals. Thus, a prayer has been made to dismiss the delay condonation petitions as well as the writ appeals."

¶9On the above findings, again the orders impugned were set aside and taking note of the earlier round of litigation which ultimately was dismissed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in SPL.Nos.8513-8518 of 2020. In view thereof, the contention that is made on behalf of the Learned Counsel for the respondents are unsustainable. Since Page9 of 12 the matter has already been decided in the previous round, once again similar orders cannot be repeatedly passed by the respondent Board.

¶10Therefore, this writ petition is allowed on the following terms:

(i) The impugned orders dated 01.08.2023 and

28.02.2024 shall stand quashed and consequently the respondents 3 to 5 are directed to convert the Energy Purchase Agreement (EPA) in respect of petitioner's WEG No.039214340843 as one of Energy Wheeling Agreement

(EWA) and permit the petitioner to consume the power for its own purposes.

(ii) With reference to the arrears, in view of the statements that is made in paragraph No.9 that the TNPDCL is taking steps to clear the outstanding dues along with interest, it shall be done within a period of eight (8) weeks from the date of receipt of the web copy of the order. There shall be no order as to costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed."

¶3In view of the same, these Writ Petitions are disposed of on the following terms:

(i) The impugned order dated 01.08.2023 shall stand quashed in respect of all petitioners and consequently the respondents 2 to 4 are directed to terminate the Energy Purchase Agreement (EPA) in respect of petitioners' WEG Nos. 039214340779, 079224723716, 079224723235, 079224723075 and 039234392161 as a fresh Energy Page10 of 12 Wheeling Agreement (EWA) and permit the petitioners to consume the power for its own purposes.

(ii) With reference to the arrears, in view of the statements that is made in paragraph No.9 that the TNPDCL is taking steps to clear the outstanding dues along with interest, it shall be done within a period of eight (8) weeks from the date of receipt of the web copy of the order. No costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed. 07-08-2026 SHK Page11 of 12 To

¶1Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (TNPDCL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Chairman and Managing Director

¶2Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation Ltd., (TNGECL) 10th Floor, 144, Anna Salai, Rep. by its Managing Director

¶3The Chief Engineer /NCES (TNGECL) 2nd Floor, 144, Anna Salai,

¶4The Superintending Engineer TNPDCL Udumalpet Electricity Distribution Circle, Udumalpet.

¶5The Superintending Engineer TNPDCL Tirunelveli Electricity Distribution Circle, Tirunelveli.

¶6The Superintending Engineer TNPDCL Palladam Electricity Distribution Circle, Palladam. Page12 of 12

MOHAMMED SHAFFIQ, J. SHK WP Nos. 31438, 31443, 31455 and 31449 of 2026 07-08-2026