The Uttar Pradesh electricity regulatory commission (UPERC) on Thursday hit back at the state government for trying to fix the timeframe for announcement of power tariff in the state. In a letter to the commission on October 10, AK Gupta, the principal secretary (energy), had asked it to finalise the tariff within five days. Exercising his powers under Section 108 of the Electricity Act-2003, Gupta had given his directive to the commission on the issue.

In his reply to the principal secretary, the commission’s secretary Arun Kumar Srivastava said: “Section 108 of the Electricity Act-2003 relates to a matter of policy and is not related to determination of the tariff which is undertaken in accordance with Sections 61, 62 and 64 of the EA Act”.

The commission told Gupta that it was already seized of the matter to decide the new tariff plan at the earliest. Srivastava said, “it (the commission) has all along endeavoured to ensure the welfare of the public at large.

The commission has also made it clear to the government that it was a “quasi judicial body”. He said the exercise was in the final stages and the commission was equally concerned about a matter of public interest.