Chapter VI APPEALS TO APPELLATE TRIBUNAL

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Appellate Tribunal established under section 110 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003) shall be the Appellate Tribunal for the purposes of this Act and the said Appellate Tribunal shall exercise the jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred on it by or under this Act: Provided that the Technical Member of the Appellate Tribunal for the purposes of this Act shall be called the Technical Member (Petroleum and Natural Gas) and shall have the qualifications specified in sub-section (2) of section 31. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003), the Central Government may, for the purposes of this Act, appoint one or more Technical Members (Petroleum and Natural Gas) on the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity or designate a Technical Member of the said Tribunal having the qualifications specified in sub-section (2) of section 31 and when a Technical Member (Petroleum and Natural Gas) is appointed, he shall be in addition to the three other members appointed under the said Act.

(1) The Technical Member (Petroleum and Natural Gas) shall be appointed from the panel prepared by the Search Committee constituted under sub-section (2) of section 4. (2) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Technical Member (Petroleum and Natural Gas) of the Appellate Tribunal unless he— (i) is, or has been, a Secretary for at least one year in the Ministry or Department of the Central Government having adequate experience in energy sector, especially in matters relating to Petroleum and Natural Gas sector; or (ii) is, or has been, a person of ability and standing, having adequate knowledge or experience in dealing with matters relating to exploration, production, transmission pipelines, marketing or regulation of petroleum, petroleum products or natural gas, economics, commerce, law or management.

The term of office, the salaries and allowances payable to and the other terms and conditions of service of the Technical Member (Petroleum and Natural Gas) shall be the same as applicable to the other members of the Appellate Tribunal.

(1) Any person aggrieved by an order or decision made by the Board under this Act may prefer an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal: Provided that any person preferring an appeal against an order or decision of the Board levying any penalty shall, while filing the appeal, deposit the amount of such penalty: Provided further that where in any particular case, the Appellate Tribunal is of the opinion that deposit of such penalty would cause undue hardship to such person, it may dispense with such deposit subject to such conditions as it may deem fit to impose so as to safeguard the realisation of penalty. (2) Every appeal under sub-section (1) shall be filed within a period of thirty days from the date on which a copy of the direction or order of decision made by the Board is received by the aggrieved person and it shall be in such form, verified in such manner and be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed: Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within that period. (3) On receipt of an appeal under sub-section (1), the Appellate Tribunal may, after giving the parties an opportunity of being heard, pass such orders thereon as it thinks fit. (4) The Appellate Tribunal shall send a copy of every order made by it to the parties to the appeal and to the Board. (5) The appeal filed under sub-section (1) shall be dealt with by the Appellate Tribunal as expeditiously as possible and endeavor shall be made by it to dispose of the appeal finally within ninety days from the date of receipt of appeal: Provided that where any such appeal could not be disposed of within the said period of ninety days, the Appellate Tribunal shall record its reasons in writing for not disposing of the appeal within the said period. (6) The Appellate Tribunal may, for the purpose of examining the legality or propriety or correctness of any order or decision of the Board referred to in the appeal filed under sub-section (1), either on its own motion or otherwise, call for the records relevant to disposing of such appeal and make such orders as it thinks fit.

The provisions of sections 120 to 124 (both inclusive) of the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003) shall mutatis mutandis apply to the Appellate Tribunal in the discharge of its functions under this Act as they apply to it in the discharge of its functions under the Electricity Act, 2003.

The Appellate Tribunal may, by notification, make rules consistent with the provisions of this Act as to the conduct and procedure in respect of all proceedings before it under this Act.

(1) Every order made by the Appellate Tribunal under this Act shall be executable by the Appellate Tribunal as a decree of a civil court, and for this purpose, the Appellate Tribunal shall have all the powers of a civil court. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Appellate Tribunal may transmit any order made by it to a civil court having jurisdiction and such civil court shall execute the order as if it were a decree made by that court.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) or in any other law, an appeal shall lie against any order, not being an interlocutory order, of the Appellate Tribunal to the Supreme Court on one or more of the grounds specified in section 100 of that Code. (2) No appeal shall lie against any decision or order made by the Appellate Tribunal with the consent of the parties. (3) Every appeal under this section shall be preferred within a period of ninety days from the date of the decision or order appealed against: Provided that the Supreme Court may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said period of ninety days, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from preferring the appeal in time.