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Jung cancels Krishan Saini’s appointment as DERC chairman by AAP government
NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Wednesday scrapped the appointment of Krishna Saini as the chairperson of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC)
NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Wednesday scrapped the appointment of Krishna Saini as the chairperson of Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) – city’s power regulator— by the AAP government on grounds of legal infirmities.
Jung also directed the government to initiate the process for the selection of the chairperson of the DERC immediately in accordance with law.
The L-G’s office said Saini was appointed to the top post of DERC in March without Jung’s approval as mandated under rules and procedures.
Following the Delhi High Court August 4 order that stamped L-G as the real administrator of Delhi, Jung had formed a three-member committee that is reviewing all decisions of the AAP government taken during the 18 months prior to the court order.
According to officials, the committee is reviewing 400 files of the state government.
“In the given circumstances, the appointment of the DERC chairperson has been declared as void ab initio,” the L-G’s office said in a statement.
Officials said as the constitution of the selection committee as well as the appointment of the DERC chairperson was done without putting up the matter to Jung for his concurrence, the entire process has been vitiated right from the beginning and “suffers from serious legal infirmities”.
While appointing Saini, the AAP government had cited a Delhi High Court order of February 24 saying it was allowed permission to go ahead with his appointment.
A petition against the appointment is also pending before the High Court that is likely to come up for next hearing on Friday.
“As per Section 85, Electricity Act, 2003, the selection committee is to be constituted by the state government. The power and functions of the state government have been delegated to the L-G vide government of India notification dated February 20, 2004. Further,
the council of ministers appointed Krishna Saini as chairperson, DERC without the approval of the Lt Governor,” the L-G’s office said.
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