Delhi HC allows city govt to appoint DERC chairperson

The Delhi High Court today allowed the Delhi government to go forward with the appointment of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairperson.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath, however, clarified that it would be subject to final orders of this court on the PIL which had challenged the appointment process by the government.
The high court passed the order after the counsel for the Delhi government told the bench that it has shortlisted names of candidates which are kept in a sealed cover and sought its nod for the appointment process.
The matter will now be taken up for hearing on March 11.

The direction came while hearing a PIL by Delhi resident Raman Suri challenging the Delhi government' December 2015 notification seeking applications for the post of DERC chairperson and one member.
The Delhi government had told the court that notification had been issued under the existing provisions, which allow for the appointment of a sitting or former judge as the chairperson if so decided by the government.

Suri, in his PIL through advocate Sujatha Balachander, had contended that the chairperson of the commission should be a former high court judge, since the adjudication of disputes between generating companies or transmission licensees is a "judicial function".

It had challenged section 84 of the Electricity Act 2003, arguing that the provision that a judge "may" be appointed should be read as mandatory.
The PIL had sought an interim stay on the process of appointment, claiming that "valuable rights of the public" would be affected if the appointment was allowed to go on.