Procedure for filing an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal for Petroleum and Natural Gas

Appellate Tribunal for Petroleum and Natural Gas (Procedure, Form, Fee and Record of Proceedings) Rules, 2009

Procedure for filing appeal, petition, application, etc—(1) Every appeal or petition or application or caveat petition or objection or counter presented to the Appellate Tribunal shall be in English and in case it is in some other Indian language, it shall be accompanied by a copy of translation in English and shall be fairly and legibly type written, lithographed or printed in double spacing on one side of standard petition paper with an inner margin of about four centimetres width on top and with a right margin of 2.5 centimetres, and left margin of 5 centimetres, duly paginated, indexed and stitched together in paper book form;

(2) The cause title shall state “In the Appellate Tribunal for Petroleum and Natural Gas” and respectively shall specify the jurisdiction Appellate or Original under section 33(1) and section 34 respectively of the Act in which it is presented and set out the proceedings or order of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board against which the appeal is preferred. –

(3) Appeal or petition or application or counter or objection shall be divided into paragraphs and shall be numbered consecutively and each paragraph shall contain as nearly as may be, a separate fact or allegation or point.

(4) Where Saka or other dates are used, corresponding dates of Gregorian Calendar shall also be given.

(5) Full name, parentage, description of each party and address and in case a party sues or being sued in a representative character, shall also be set out at the beginning of the appeal or petition or application and need not be repeated in the subsequent proceedings in the same appeal or petition or application.

(6) (a) The names of parties shall be numbered consecutively and a separate line should be allotted to the name and description of each party.

(b) The numbers of the parties shall not be changed and in the event of the death of a party during the pendency of the appeal or petition or application, his legal heirs or representative, as the case may be, if more than one shall be shown by sub-numbers.

(c) Where fresh parties are brought in, they may be numbered consecutively in the particular category, in which they are brought in.

(7) Every application, petition or application, etc proceeding shall state immediately after the cause title of the provision of law under which it is preferred.

 Particulars to be set out in the address for service—The address for service of summons shall be filed with every appeal or petition or application or caveat, etc on behalf of a party and shall as far as possible contain the following items, namely:-

(a) the name of the road, street, lane and municipal division or ward, municipal door and other number of the house;

(b) the name of the town or village;

(c) the post office, postal district and PIN Code; and

(d) any other particular necessary to identify the addressee such as fax number, mobile number and e-mail address, if any.

 Initialling alteration—Every inter lineations, eraser or correction or deletion in any appeal or petition or application, etc. or in any document shall be initialled by the party or his recognised agent or advocate presenting it.

Presentation of appeal or petition—(1) Every appeal, petition, caveat, interlocutory application and documents shall be presented in triplicate by the appellant or petitioner or applicant or respondent, as the case may be, in person or by his duly authorized agent or by an advocate duly appointed in this behalf, in the specified form with stipulated fee at the filing counter and non compliance of this may constitute a valid ground to refuse to entertain the same

(2) Every appeal or petition shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the impugned order.

(3) All documents filed in the Appellate Tribunal shall be accompanied by an index in triplicate containing their details and the amount of fee paid thereon.

(4) There shall be filed along with the appeal, petition or application, etc. as many copies of appeal, petition, application, etc as there are respondents.

(5) In the pending matters, all applications shall be presented after serving copies thereof in advance on the opposite side or his or her advocate on record.

(6) The processing fee, with required number of envelopes of sufficient size and notice forms as specified in Form – I shall be filed along with memorandum of appeal.

(7) The processing fee as specified in Form – II shall be filed with the original or original Special Petition.

(8) Interlocutory Application before the Appellate Tribunal for Petroleum and Natural Gas shall be filed in Form – III.

 Number of copies to be filed—The appellant or petitioner or applicant or respondent shall file three authenticated copies of appeal or petition or application or counter or objection, as the case may be, and shall deliver one copy to each of the opposite party.

 Lodging of Caveat—(1) The respondent may lodge a cavern in triplicate in any appeal or petition or application that may be instituted before the Appellate Tribunal, by paying the specified fee after forwarding a copy by registered post or serving the same on the expected petitioner or appellant and the caveat shall be in Form IV and contain Such details and particulars or orders or directions, details of authority against whose orders or directions the appeal or petition is being instituted by the expected appellant or petitioner with full address for service on other side, so that the appeal or petition be served before the appeal or petition or interim application is taken up:

Provided that it shall not affect the jurisdiction of the Appellate Tribunal to pass interim orders in case of urgency.

(2) The caveat shall remain valid for a period of ninety days from the date of its filing.

Endorsement and Verification—(a) At the foot of every petition or appeal or pleading there shall appear the name and signature of the advocate, if any, representing the party concerned who has drawn the same and also the name of the senior advocate, who may have settled it.

(b) Every appeal or petition shall be signed and verified by the party concerned in the manner provided by these rules.

Interlocutory application—Every Interlocutory Application for stay, direction, condonation of delay, exemption from production of copy of order appealed against or extension of time prayed for in pending matters shall be in Form III and the requirements specified in that behalf shall be complied with by the applicant, besides filing an affidavit supporting the application.

Procedure on production of defaced, torn or damaged documents—When a document produced along with any pleading appears to be defaced, tom, or in any way damaged or otherwise its condition or appearance requires special notice, a mention regarding its condition and appearance shall be made by the party producing the same in the Index of such a pleading and the same shall be verified and initialled by the officer authorized to receive the same.