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2018 (5) TMI 1998 - Commission - Indian LawsCorrect legal position on quorum for hearing the review petition - HELD THAT:- From the provisions of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1999 (CBR), it is evident that proceedings before the Commission include proceedings of all nature that the Commission may hold in discharge of its functions under the Act which includes petitions for review of its own decisions, directions and orders. Further, the quorum for the proceedings before the Commission is two which means that no proceedings can take place without the presence of at least two members including ex-officio member of the Commission. However, as regards the review petition, only timeline for filing of petitions for review and disposal of such petitions has been indicated. The CBR is silent about the quorum for hearing the review petitions i.e. whether the review petitions shall be heard by lesser number of members than those who heard the main petition or what should be the quorum if any of the Members including Chairperson retires before the review petition is filed or during the course of the proceedings of the review petition. The general principle as per the CPC is that a review petition must always be heard by the same Court/Bench. However, there are situations in which this is not possible particularly in the present case where the Chairperson of the Hon'ble Commission who signed the orders in the main petitions is unavailable due to reason of superannuation. For the said situation, Order 47 Rule 5 provides that if a judge or judges or any one of the judges who passed the decree or made the order, a review of which is applied for, such judge or judges or any of them shall hear the review application, and no other judge or judges of the court shall hear the same, unless the judge or judges is not or are not precluded from absence or other cause for a period of six months next after the decree or order is made. The Commission shall be guided by the principles given in the provisions of Section 114 of CPC and Order 47 thereunder while dealing with the review petitions - If the members constituting the quorum which heard and passed the order in the main petition are available, those members only shall hear and issue order in the review petition. No other member shall be associated at the review stage. The review petitions shall be listed before the appropriate quorums.
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