NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu has formed a committee for selection of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairperson and its two members, said an official order. The action came after the Supreme Court on Friday asked a newly formed selection committee appointed by the Delhi government to take immediate steps and ensure the appointments of chairperson and two members to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) within two months.
A bench comprising CJI Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi ordered the panel to act without delay to identify suitable candidates for the posts of DERC chairperson and members. The court also took on record a notification issued by the BJP government in Delhi that said it had constituted a search and selection committee to fill up three vacant posts in the DERC on May 27 in pursuance of an earlier direction.
The bench passed the directions after hearing a PIL filed by an NGO seeking regular appointments to the DERC and the formation of a selection committee under Section 85 of the Electricity Act, 2003.
In the last hearing on May 25, the court had pulled up the Delhi government for the delay in setting up a selection committee, noting that the DERC had been functioning without a chairperson for almost a year. The bench had observed that the appointment process was “going nowhere.”
During the hearing on Friday, counsel for the Delhi government told the top court that a proposal to constitute the selection committee had been moved on May 4.
Also in court
Cap of 12 minutes of TV ads per hr upheld
The Delhi HC on Friday upheld Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) norms that limited the broadcast of ads to 12 minutes per hour, stating that the Constitution does not give a guarantee for monetisation of public resources. The restriction, is said, serves public interest.