Khaitan & Co secures interim relief for Electrosteel Castings Limited as Calcutta High Court extends RCO compliance deadline
The leading Indian law firm, Khaitan & Co, on behalf of Electrosteel Castings Limited (ECL), secured interim relief from the Calcutta High Court on 4 September 2025, with the Court extending the deadline for compliance with the Renewable Consumption Obligation (RCO) by one month, from 30 September 2025.
The relief was granted through an interim order in a writ petition (WPA No. 16860 of 2025) filed challenging the framework introduced under the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022, read with the Gazette Notification dated 20 October 2023 issued by the Ministry of Power (MoP), Government of India.
Taking into account the submissions made by Khaitan & Co on behalf of ECL, and in view of the draft amendment to the 2023 RCO Notification proposed to be notified by the MoP on 5 August 2025, the Court directed MoP/GoI to take requisite instructions regarding the treatment of Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) and Waste Gas Recovery (WGR) based captive power plants under the RCO framework. Meanwhile, the Court extended the timeline for compliance with RCO by ECL.
The interim relief is significant, given the industry-wide ramifications of RCO on stakeholders including cogeneration/waste heat and waste gas recovery plants, distribution licensees, and open access consumers. These stakeholders are currently facing uncertainty due to the lack of clarity in the applicability of RCO targets, particularly with the draft amendments proposed by MoP on one hand and the impending compliance deadline of 30 September 2025 on the other.
The Khaitan & Co team advising and representing ECL comprised Divya Chaturvedi (Partner), Shounak Mitra (Partner), Saransh Shaw (Counsel), Zulfiqar Alquaderi (Principal Associate), Akshita Bohra (Associate), and Chandan Kumar (Associate).
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