Act against grievance forum chief: JERC to UT

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, August 3

Raising questions over the functioning of the Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF), the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC), has asked the UT Administration to take disciplinary action against CGRF Chairman RK Arora on the basis of the report submitted by RS Bagri, Adviser (legal), JERC. The CGRF has been constituted for the redressal of grievances of consumers under the Electricity Act.

The commission appointed Bagri to review and inspect the working of the CGRF Chairman, after the later received several complaints. Bagri inspected and reviewed the working of the Chairman in 2015. Bagri submitted his report on June 22, 2015.

The commission in a letter to the Secretary, (Power) while forwarding the report, asked him to take necessary disciplinary action against Arora as provided under the JERC rules. The direction says, “This needs to be done to restore the confidence of consumers as well as their faith in the working of the CGRF and the commission.”

The report mentioned that the Chairman had no knowledge of the procedure for dealing with the complaints as laid down in the regulation. “The Chairman showed ignorance about such procedures laid down by the CGRF, despite the fact that he had been working as the Chairman for the last one year,” the report says. The disposal of complaints is slow and in some cases, the orders were passed without involving all members. There were complaints from the consumers that personal comments were being passed by the members, the Chairman and the consumers during the hearing. The report also mentions financial irregularities against the Chairman.

When contacted regarding the report, Arora said he had already filed his detailed reply to the commission, but heard nothing since then. Sarbjit Singh, Finance Secretary, said the matter had been taken with the Adviser. Social activist Narendra Sharma who procured the inspection report under the RTI said no action had been taken so far against the Chairman.