Even after three months of the retirement of Delhi Electricity Regul-atory Commission (DERC) chairman, the Delhi government is yet to initiate the process to find a replacement for him. The private power distribution companies (discoms) have submitted their submissions for electricity tariff revision but the DERC has no chairman yet.
Though there appears no move on the part of the Delhi government to fill the post of chairman, it has started the process for finding replacement for a member who will retire next year. The DERC and the city government had come at loggerheads on the issue of power tariff revision. Former DERC chairman Berjinder Singh, had rejected the discoms’ demands for tariff hike and attempted to lower the tariff but his move was stonewalled by the city government.
The government has not yet even constituted a search committee to look for candidates for the top post of the regulatory body. As per the process, the Delhi government recommends the name of prospective chairman, based on the findings of the search committee, to the lieutenant-governor.
Interestingly. one of the member of the DERC is retiring in 2011 and the government has initiated the process to find the replacement of a DERC member retiring in 2011, with applications having been called for in the last month.