Supreme Court seeks report from registry on allegation by Rajasthan discom about improper listing of plea by Adani Power

The Supreme Court on Friday sought a report from the registry within ten days on allegations by the Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited about improper listing of an application by Adani Power despite a final judgment in the case [Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited v Adani Power Rajasthan Ltd]..A bench comprising Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar said it would consider the merits of the application only once a report has been received from the registry. "Let us be very clear.. let us have the record from the registrar, we will consider it. Any counsel in the supreme court, nobody has anything, so far as judges are concerned, personal. Others might have a personal interest but courts cannot. Let things be made clear by the registry, we will consider it. It already heard in part, we’ll consider it," remarked Justice Shah. It then proceeded to call for a report from Registrar (Judicial)."Let the registrar judicial submit a report within ten days from today. Put up on 6 Feb," the Court ordered..The issue arose when Rajasthan discom addressed a letter to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court registry on January 5 raising an issue with Adani's application being listed. The letter sent through M/s Chambers of Kartik Seth, on the instructions of Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, stated that the issue went to the root of the registry’s integrity.“This letter raises an extraordinarily serious question going to the very root of the institutional integrity of the registry of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India,” the letter said..As per the letter, the case was listed for orders on January 6, 2023, despite the final disposal of the case on August 31, 2020.In its 2020 judgment, the apex court had held that Adani Power was not entitled to the payment of Late Payment Surcharge (LPS). In terms of the same, the Rajasthan electricity distributor paid the entire amount due and the same was accepted by Adani..Therefore, the letter claimed that the latest application was a clear attempt to review the 2020 judgment after a lapse of more than two years, that too without moving any application for condonation of delay.It further stated that while the discom had moved an application for review, which was dismissed in March 2021, Adani did not file any review petition..When the case was taken up for hearing on Friday, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Adani, emphasised that the application was filed in July, several hearings had taken place since then and pleadings were also exchanged by the parties. However, no issue was raised until now. Singhvi added that he will circulate a letter in response to Rajasthan discom's letter."In my 24 years as a judicial officer, as on today nobody has been able to point a finger at me so far as integrity is concerned," said Justice Shah. Senior counsel Dave stated that he will demonstrate the gross abuse of judicial process by the respondents."I am trying to protect the court because I have highest respect. It is litigants like this who try to spoil the image of this court", he said.The Court agreed to wait for the registrar's report and posted the case for hearing February 6. .Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, Advocates Kartik Seth, Shriya Gilhotra, Tarun Mehra, and Aakriti Vikas appeared for the petitioners while the respondents were represented by Senior Advocate AM Singhvi, Advocates Mahesh Agarwal, Amit Kapur, Poonam Sengupta,Ankur Saigal, Arshit Anand, S Lakshmi Iyer, Shaswat Singh, Sakshi Kapoor, Saunak Rajguru, and EC Agrawala. .[Read Order]