Saving clause preserves pre-amendment electricity rate order; licensee cannot unilaterally revise charges after re-enactment.

A pre-amendment electricity rate-fixing order made under the 1948 Act remained effective after the 1956 amendment because the later provisions were prospective, contained no deeming fiction displacing the earlier order, and showed no contrary intention. The saving principle under the General Clauses Act preserved the operation of the validly made order despite repeal and re-enactment. As a result, the licensee was bound by the 1951 order and could not unilaterally enhance charges in breach of it.

---

---

Issues: Whether the Government order fixing electricity charges issued in 1951 under the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 continued to bind the licensee after the 1956 amendment, and whether the licensee could unilaterally enhance the charges notwithstanding that order.

Analysis: The earlier order was made under the unamended statutory scheme, which did not prescribe any time limit for its operation. The 1956 amendment substantially re-enacted the earlier provisions but introduced a new time-limit clause only for orders made under the amended scheme. Section 6 of the General Clauses Act preserves the previous operation of a repealed provision and anything duly done under it unless a contrary intention appears. The amended provisions were prospective and contained no deeming fiction that would treat the 1951 order as if it had been made under the new provision. Section 24 of the General Clauses Act also did not assist because it applies where an order can continue in force under the re-enacted law without destroying the statutory scheme. The old order was therefore not displaced by the amendment and remained effective.

Conclusion: The 1951 order survived the 1956 amendment and remained binding; the licensee could not unilaterally increase the charges in violation of that order.

Final Conclusion: The consumer decrees were upheld because the pre-amendment rate-fixing order continued in force under the saving principle applicable to repeal and re-enactment.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory provision is repealed and substantially re-enacted prospectively without a contrary intention or deeming fiction, orders validly made under the repealed provision remain operative under the saving rule and cannot be defeated by the later enactment.

---