NEW DELHI: Ever since the removal of the chairman of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) by former Lieuetenant Governor Najeeb Jung in September 2016, the Commission has been functioning without a chairman and working only with one member.
The Commission – a statutory body of the Delhi government which takes care of all issues of distribution companies regarding power supply in the Capital – requires two members and one chairman.
At present, DERC has just one member, BP Singh, owing to which no major decisions, such as revision of tariffs, have being undertaken.
Delhi Power Minister Satyender Jain on Friday directed DERC about notification of the Delhi government's proposal mandating an hourly compensation of Rs 100 to consumers, in case of unscheduled power cuts. However, he was reluctant to talk about the reappointment of DERC chairman and selection of another member.
Jung had rejected the appointment of Krishna Saini as chairman of DERC.
Sources said that the Delhi High Court has already uphold LG Anil Baijal's order on the DERC issues, which is why officials of the Delhi government often say that matters relating to the DERC chairman appointment are sub-judice.
As of now, the AAP government completed three years without a DERC Chairman.
The Delhi government has 49 per cent stake in each of the three discoms in the Capital and has at least five directors in 11-member boards.
Ever since the high court, in August 2017, quashed its previous nominations for not taking prior approval from LG, the board has no representative of the Delhi government.