Contracted electricity tariff cannot be unilaterally enhanced by coal surcharge absent clear statutory authority.

A statutory authority cannot unilaterally raise an agreed electricity tariff by levying a coal surcharge unless the governing Act and schedule clearly confer that power. The challenge to the surcharge was therefore maintainable in writ proceedings because the arbitration clause covered only disputes arising under the supply agreement, not a challenge to the existence of statutory authority itself. The statutory provisions relied upon did not authorise overriding the contracted rate or imposing an additional charge that effectively enhanced the tariff. The action was unsustainable on the statutory scheme examined.

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Issues: Whether the electricity board could levy coal surcharge and enhance the tariff for supply of electricity under Sections 49 and 59 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 and the Sixth Schedule thereto despite an agreed contractual rate, and whether the arbitration clause in the supply agreement barred examination of that statutory challenge in writ proceedings.

Analysis: The agreement fixed the supply terms and rates, and the dispute raised was not merely one of interpretation or performance of the contract but a challenge to the board's asserted statutory power to impose an additional coal surcharge. Such a question did not fall within the arbitration clause, which was confined to disputes arising under the agreement. On merits, the statutory provisions relied upon did not confer power on the board to override a contractual rate and unilaterally enhance charges for supply of electricity. A levy which in substance increases the agreed tariff cannot be justified under those provisions. The fact that the board referred to the wrong source of power would not save the action if some other lawful source existed, but no such sustainable power was established on the statutory scheme examined.

Conclusion: The coal surcharge could not be sustained under Sections 49 and 59 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 or the Sixth Schedule, and the arbitration clause did not oust judicial scrutiny of the statutory challenge.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed and the writ challenge to the surcharge was not accepted.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory authority cannot unilaterally enhance a contracted electricity tariff by invoking provisions that do not confer such power, and an arbitration clause limited to contractual disputes does not cover a challenge to the existence of statutory authority itself.

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