Manish Sisodia seeks LG’s nod to govt’s pick for DERC top post

The DERC chairperson’s post fell vacant on Tuesday after the tenure of justice (retd) Shabihul Hasnain of the Allahabad high court came to an end.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday wrote to lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, flagging the delay in the appointment of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairperson, seemingly opening up another front in the tussle between the LG and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led state government over governance in the Capital.

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. (ANI)

The DERC chairperson’s post fell vacant on Tuesday after the tenure of justice (retd) Shabihul Hasnain of the Allahabad high court came to an end. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had on January 4 approved the appointment of justice (retd) Rajeev Shrivastava of the Madhya Pradesh high court as DERC chairperson, but the LG is yet to clear the file.

In his letter on Tuesday, Sisodia wrote, “CM Arvind Kejriwal has approved the appointment of Justice (retd) Rajeev Shrivastava of MP High Court as DERC chairperson. I find no reason why you would differ with the decision of the council of ministers.”

The LG’s office did not respond to requests for comments on the letter.

In Delhi, power tariff determination is the prerogative of the DERC, and the elected government has no control over the power tariff determination. DERC, however, has no control over the power subsidy being given by the Delhi government.

Referring to a Supreme Court constitution bench judgement of 2018, which drew lines between the LG and the Delhi government, Sisodia said the LG is bound by the aid and advice of the state’s council of ministers as long as he does not exercise proviso to Art 239AA(4), which is done in rarest of the rare cases, but noted that there have been three occasions when LG got his decision implemented by sending the file directly to officers.

“On all transferred subjects, unless it is a quasi-judicial or judicial matter where LG has to act at his discretion, on all other matters, LG is bound by the aid and advice of the council of ministers. So, kindly do not send the file related to the appointment of the DERC chairman directly to officers for the issue of notification,” said Sisodia.