Section 40. Duties of transmission licensees

40. Duties of transmission licensees. —It shall be the duty of a transmission licensee- (a) to build, maintain and operate an efficient, co-ordinated and economical inter-State transmission system or intra-State transmission system, as the case may be; (b) to comply with the directions of the Regional Load Despatch Centre and the State Load Despatch Centre as the case may be; (c) to provide non-discriminatory open access to its transmission system for use by— (i) any licensee or generating company on payment of the transmission charges; or (ii) any consumer as and when such open access is provided by the State Commission under sub-section (2) of section 42, on payment of the transmission charges and a surcharge thereon, as may be specified by the State Commission: Provided that such surcharge shall be utilised for the purpose of meeting the requirement of current level cross-subsidy: Provided further that such surcharge and cross subsidies shall be progressively reduced[3] * in the manner as may be specified by the Appropriate Commission: 1. The words " and eliminated " omitted by Act 26 of 2007, s. 5 (w.e.f. 15-6-2007).