AAP government on Thursday termed as “motivated” the PIL in Delhi High Court seeking scrapping of the appointment of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairperson.
A Bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath was told that the petition, which alleged that the appointment was in violation of rules, was “aimed at deriding the efforts” of the Delhi government which “ensure a democratic and efficient governance of electricity” in the national Capital.
“The writ petition is a motivated petition which has been instituted masquerading as a PIL, in fact it relates to a service matter and this court as well as the Supreme Court of India in several cases has held that the petition in matters of service laws impugning the appointment etc. of persons in government service are not liable to be entertained under the garb of the PIL,” the Delhi government said in their affidavit filed through advocate Sanjoy Ghose said. It further said “there is no merit in admitting and entertaining the PIL and therefore it is prayed that the same may be dismissed with exemplary cost”.
“The petition only exposes that the present petitioner is engaged in a motivated litigation aimed at deriding the efforts of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) who ensure a democratic and efficient governance of electricity in GNCTD,” the affidavit said.
The response came in the backdrop of the court’s notice issued on a PIL that AAP government has made the appointment without seeking the Lieutenant Governor’s approval.
The court was hearing a plea by A Mishra, who sought quashing of the appointment of Krishna Saini, alleging that it was in violation of the February 20, 2004 notification issued of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under Article 239 (1) of the Constitution read with section 2 (5) (b) and Section 85 of the Electricity Act, 2003.