Supreme Court on Thursday decided to appoint a person to head the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) for now to end the deadlock between the Delhi government and Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor. The Delhi government and Delhi LG told the apex court that they have failed to reach a consensus on the appointment of DERC chairperson. The top court then said that it will appoint the chairperson as an ad-hoc measure on a pro-term basis as an interim arrangement till the issue is resolved.
This comes a day after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal held a meeting with Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at the Raj Niwas to pick a candidate for the chairperson of the DERC. Ahead of the meeting, the Delhi government had furnished three names before the LG.
On Monday, the Supreme Court asked the two constitutional functionaries to rise above "political bickering". Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud urged them to “sit together” and come up with a name.
The post of the DERC chairman assumes significance since the regulator decides the power tariff in the national capital. The position has been lying vacant since January amid the differences between the AAP dispensation and the LG's office over the new appointee.
Kejriwal in January recommended the name of retired High Court judge Rajeev Kumar Srivastava for the post but last month, he excused himself from taking charge, citing personal reasons.
On June 21, the chief minister recommended the name of retired justice Sangeet Lodha as the new DERC chairperson. However, the Centre through a notification appointed Justice Umesh Kumar (retd) to the post.
This renewed the tug-of-war between the Kejriwal-led government and the Delhi LG. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) opposed the appointment as "illegal and unconstitutional", saying "electricity" is a transferred subject falling under the jurisdiction of the elected government of a state or a Union territory.
As a result, AAP moved the Supreme Court, challenging the appointment of Kumar.
