NEW DELHI, July 20: With the Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal having failed to arrive at an agreed name for the post of the head of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), the Supreme Court has decided to step in and make the appointment itself.
Hearing the interlinked issues of the Delhi ordinance on bureaucrats and the appointment of the chief of the city’s power regulator – which have been at the centre of the face-off between the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor – the Supreme Court referred the ordinance question to a Constitution Bench besides making the appointment of the DERC chief.
When the Supreme Court was informed on Thursday that the AAP-ruled Delhi government and the LG had failed to arrive at a consensus on one name for the DERC chief, the bench said “it is sad no one cares about the institution” and decided that it will make the appointment.
Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the LG, suggested that the President has appointed a DERC chairperson and the court should either grant an injunction against the chairman or let him continue.
Appearing for the Delhi government, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi pointed out that the appointment was made based on the ordinance, which has been challenged.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra, then said, “The validity of the ordinance will go to the Constitution Bench and it will take one or two months. How can the DERC not function till then?”
The court also heard arguments on an ad-hoc appointment and the list that the regulator’s chief should be picked from. The Chief Justice asked the lawyers, including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Centre, to wait for some time. “We will take our own call. We will not see any list,” said CJI Chandrachud, adding that the matter will be heard next on August 4.
During a hearing on July 17, the Supreme Court had said Delhi Chief Minister and Lieutenant Governor have to rise above political bickering. It had also suggested a way of breaking the impasse on the Centre’s controversial ordinance, which had upturned a judgment of the Supreme Court granting greater control to the Delhi government over its bureaucrats.
“We have a suggestion to break the impasse. Can the LG and CM sit down and give an agreeable candidate so that the person can be appointed for DERC? The ideal situation is both agreeing to a name for the DERC Chairperson. We don’t want to step into this. We want both of you to sit together and resolve this” the court had said. But they failed to live up to the expectations.
(Manas Dasgupta)
