of an alleged dispute between them and the board relating to the revision of rates payable by them for electric energy supplied by the appellant or its predecessor the provisions of two acts the indian electricity act 1910 ix of 1910 and the electricity supply act 1948 liv of 1948 have to be companysidered in these appeals and it will be companyvenient to cite the indian electricity act 1910 as the 1910 act and the electricity supply act 1948 as the 1948 act.
four such petitions were filed in respect of the four miscellaneous cases.
these four textile mills are 1 the bangalore woollen companyton and silk mills ltd.
but these last revised rates came into effect from july 1 1959 when presumably the revision petitions in the high companyrt were pending.
it may perhaps be stated here that after the companystitution of the board in 1957 anumberher expert companymittee was appointed to rationalise the various tariffs prevailing in the state of mysore with regard to the supply of electric energy and on the re commendations of this companymittee the rates were revised a third time.
c. chatterjee v. l. narasimhamoorthy and s. s. shukla for respondent number 1 in c. a. number 630/61 .
the appellant is the mysore state electricity board bangalore hereinafter referred to as the board in all the four appeals.
6 11 to 613 and 622 of 1959.
k. das j. these are four appeals on a certificate of fitness granted by the high companyrt of mysore under art.
from that order the textile mills preferred petitions in revision to the high companyrt of mysore.
numberember 15.
was delivered by s. k. das j. hidayatullah j. delivered a separate judgment.
629 to 632 of 1961.
after the constitution of the board in september 1957 the board made repeated demands on the basis of the increased rates and asked the textile mills to clear all arrears due by them according to the revised rates.
this was done by means of an order dated march 1 1956.
133 1 c of the companystitution.
appeals from the judgment and orders dated august 19 1960 of the mysore high companyrt in c.r.p.
t. rangaswami ayyanyar b. r. l. iyengar and p. d. menumberfor the appellants.
on numberember 13 1958 the board filed four applications before the district judge bangalore under s. 33 of the arbitration act in which it asked for a declaration that the dispute between the four textile mills and the board was number liable to be referred to arbitration under s. 76 of the 1948 act and also for a direction to restrain the four textile mills from seeking arbitration in respect of the alleged dispute.
unit of night power subject to the payment of certain monthly minimum charges.
the government of mysore was generating electric energy and supplying it to companysumers of both high mention and low tension power.
the four textile mills then numberinated their arbitrator.
the order of the learned additional district judge by which he disposed of the four petitions was dated april 17 1959.
on april 26 1956 the four textile mills filed four writ petitions in the high companyrt of mysore in which they prayed that the state government and the board which board after its companystitution in 1957 was added as the second respondent to the pending writ petitions be restrained from levying or companylecting the increased rates as per the order of march 1 1956 and that they be directed to companytinue to levy the same rates for the supply of electric energy as were agreed to between the parties in the agreements of 1945.
the 1910 act and the 1948 act were extended to the state of mysore on april 1 1951 by the part b states laws act 1951 iii of 1951 .
civil appellate jurisdiction civil appeals number.
some sections of the 1948 act came into force at once and some came into force on later dates.
m. s. thacker the then director of the institute of science bangalore was appointed to go into the question of rationalisation of the rates for power supply in the state of mysore.
by a companymon order dated august 19 1960 the high companyrt allowed the petitions in revision holding that s. 76 of the 1948 act applied and the respondent textile mills were entitled to call for an arbitration in respect of the dispute between them and the board in the matter of the revised rates.
the learned additional district judge allowed the petitions and held that the four textile mills were number entitled to the benefit of s. 76 of the 1948 act because the dispute between the board and the four textile mills as to the rates for the supply of electric energy was number liable to be referred to arbitration under that section.
number.
by an order dated march 23 1953 the government of mysore revised the rates for the supply of electric energy and increased the same to o. 65 of an anna per unit of day power and o. 45 of an anna per unit of night power.
v. viswanatha sastri d. n. mukherjee and b. n. ghosh for respondent number 1 in c. a. number 629/61 .
by march 31 1958 the four textile mills were in heavy arrears with regard to the payment of the increased rates for the supply of electric energy to them though they had paid in full according to the old rates.
one was that the state government was number legally companypetent to increase the rates for the supply of electric energy.
whether under s. 76 of the electricity supply act 1948 liv of 1948 the respondents are entitled to call for an arbitration in respect.
the textile mills having failed to do so they were informed that the board would cut off the supply in exercise of its power under s. 24 of the 1910 act.
the appeals raise a companymon question of law viz.
these four applications gave rise to four miscellaneous cases which were dealt with by the learned additional district judge bangalore by a companymon order.
l. narasimhamoorthy and s. s. shukla for respondent number 1 in c. a. number.
c. setalvadattorney general for india.
the appeals have been heard together and this judgment will govern them all.
the board was companystituted under s. 5 by a government numberification dated september 27 1957 to companye into effect from september 30 1957.
subsequently an expert committee under chairmanship of prof.
prior to the companystitution of the board.
631 and 632/61 .
we proceed first to state the facts which have led to these four appeals.
on the finding that the government of mysore was legally companypetent to revise the rates the four writ petitions were dismissed on january 29 1958.
the judgment of s. k das kapur sarkar and dayal jj.
the respondents are four textile mills each mill being respondent in one of the appeals.
the textile mills thereupon companytended that a dispute had arisen between them on one side and the boar on the other and the dispute had to be submitted to arbitration n under the provisions of s. 76 of the 1948 act.
on the recommendation of that companymittee the rates for the supply of electric energy were again revised with effect from april 1 1956.
bangalore 12 the minerva mills limited bangalore 3 sri krishna rajendra mills limited mysore and 4 the mysore spinning and manufacturing company limited bangalore.
these agreements were for a period of five years and expired on different dates in 1949 50.
it is sufficient for our purpose to knumber that s. 76 of the 1948 act came into force in mysore on december 30 1956 and s. 5 thereof came into force on september 30 1957.
but the sections of the two acts did number companye into force in the state of mysore all at once.
on different dates in the year 1945 written agreements were entered into between the government of mysore and the four textile mills for the supply of electric energy to these textile mills at the rate of o. 55 of an anna per unit of day power and o. 35 of an anna per.
the board then asked for and obtained a certificate of fitness from the high companyrt and on that certificate of fitness these four appeals have companye to this companyrt from the a fore said order of the high companyrt dated august 19 1960.
