DERC chairman’s appointment: SC asks Delhi CM Kejriwal, LG VK Saxena to ‘rise above political bickering’

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, July 17

As appointment of a new Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) continues to hang fire, the Supreme Court on Monday asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor VK Saxena to rise above political bickering and finalise the name of the power regulator after discussing names of former judges for the post.

“Should everything work through the modalities of the Supreme Court? Can the LG and the Government sit down and decide on the name for Chairperson of DERC? They’re constitutional functionaries. They have to rise above political bickering…they have to give an agreed name…If both of them sit together and talk to each other, I am sure this can be resolved,” said Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud – who headed a three-judge Bench.

The Bench – which also included Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Manoj Misra – asked senior counsel AM Singhvi for the Delhi Government and senior counsel Harish Salve for the LG to apprise Kejriwal and Saxena of the court’s advice and posted the matter for consideration on Thursday.

The Delhi government has challenged the appointment of former Allahabad High Court judge Umesh Kumar’s appointment as the DERC Chairperson. The LG appointed him as the new DERC Chairperson after the promulgation of an Ordinance in May that gave wider powers to him in such appointments.

Apart from Justice Kumar’s appointment as DERC Chairperson, the Delhi Government has also challenged the Section 45D of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 which enabled the LG to appoint the DERC Chairman. Section 45D of the Ordinance denuded Delhi Government of the power to make appointments to 20 bodies which functioned under it and had a direct bearing on the people of the national capital, Singhvi contended.

On July 4, the top court had put on hold the administering of oath of office to Justice Kumar as it agreed to examine the constitutional validity of a provision of the Centre’s recent Ordinance governing appointments such as that of the DERC Chairperson. It had also issued notice to the Centre and Delhi Lieutenant Governor on Delhi Government’s challenging the June 22 notification appointing Justice Kumar as DERC Chairperson.

Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal approved the appointment of Justice (Retd) Rajeev Shrivastava as the next chairperson of the DERC. However, the file was returned by LG Vinai Saxena with a recommendation to consult the Delhi High Court Chief Justice for the appointment. Later, the Delhi government approached the top court on April 12, blaming the Lieutenant Governor for delaying the appointment.