Supreme Court Decides To Appoint DERC Chairperson Ad-hoc Due To Deadlock Between Delhi Govt & LG

The Supreme Court was informed on Thursday that the Delhi Government and the Lieutenant Governor could not agree on a name for the appointment of Chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). In view of this deadlock, the Supreme Court said that it will appoint a person for the post as an ad-hoc measure till the issue is finally decided. The Court made it clear that the appointment will be on a pro-term basis as in interim arrangement.On July 17, the bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had urged the Delhi Government and the LG to "sit together" and decide a name. The bench was hearing a writ petition filed by the Delhi Government challenging the appointment of former Allahabad High Court judge Justice Umesh Kumar as the DERC Chairman on the ground that the name was unilaterally proposed by the LG without the Government's concurrence. Earlier, the Supreme Court had allowed the oath-taking ceremony of Justice Kumar to be deferred during the pendency of the matter.Today, Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), informed the bench that the discussions with the LG did not yield any results. He requested the bench to defer the matter until the larger issue relating to the validity of the Delhi services ordinance is decided. Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the Delhi LG, urged that the Court should appoint a person due to the stalemate. He also suggested that the Court allow the present appointee to function as the DERC Chairperson, since it was an appointment made by the President. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta also supported the Court making the appointment.At one point, the bench contemplated allowing the present appointee to take over the post, subject to the final outcome of the petition. However, Singhvi strongly objected to this move. The bench also suggested that the head of some other statutory body can be asked to discharge the functions of DERC Chairperson in the meantime.The bench said that it cannot allow the DERC to remain "headless" as it will affect public interest. Ultimately, the bench decided to pick a name and posted the matter to next Friday.BackgroundThe issue arose when the previous Chairperson of DERC, retired Allahabad High Court Judge, Justice Shabihul Hasnain demitted office on 09.01.2023 upon attaining the age of 65 years. Consequently, on 04.01.2023, a proposal to appoint retired MP High Court Judge, Justice Rajeev Kumar Shrivastava was placed before the LG of NCT of Delhi. However, no action was taken on the proposal made by the Government and the DERC continued functioning without a Chairperson for around 4 months. The LG took the stand that he needs legal advice on whether the opinion of the Delhi High Court Chief Justice is needed for accepting the Delhi Government's proposal.In April 2023, the Supreme Court issued notice on a writ petition filed by the GNCTD against the Delhi LG's inaction in approving the proposal to appoint Justice Rajeev Kumar Shrivastava.On May 19, the Supreme Court clarified that as per the Electricity Act 2003, only the concurrence of the Chief Justice of that High Court from which the recomendee judge retired is required and the concurrence of the Delhi High Court Chief Justice is not required. Clarifying this position, the Supreme Court directed the LG to take follow up action.Since Justice Shrivastava expressed difficulty in accepting the post, the Delhi Government proposed the name of another person - Justice (retired) Sangeet Lodha of the Rajasthan High Court- on June 21. However, on the same day, the President appointed Justice (Retd.) Shri Umesh Kumar of Allahabad High Court as the DERC Chairman

Supreme Court Decides To Appoint DERC Chairperson Ad-hoc Due To Deadlock Between Delhi Govt & LG

Padmakshi Sharma

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