SC: Appoint judicial member to state electricity commission

Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that all state governments appoint one judicial member to the state electricity regulatory commission. In Maharashtra, two members are retiring next month and many retired IAS officers are lobbying for the posts. Government officials wondered aloud whether retired high court judges would prefer to work on the commission when an ex-IAS officer was the commission’s chairman.

According to the Electricity Act, it is mandatory for the government to appoint a judicial member to the commission. However, most state governments have not implemented this provision, yet. Hence, PILs from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu were filed before the Supreme Court while a PIL from Maharashtra was filed before the Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court. The matter was heard before Justice Jasti Chelameshwar and Justice Sanjay Kaul.

The Supreme Court directed the state governments to appoint judicial members to the respective commissions as stipulated in the act, informed senior officials. In Maharashtra, with members A.A. Khan and Deepak Lad retiring, two posts will be vacant next month onward. The state government has already initiated the appointment process and invited applications. ACS Finance D.K. Jain, GAD Mukesh Khullar and many ex-IAS officers have applied for these posts. The government has received 53 applications and the process is underway.

Now, as per the Supreme Court directive, the state governments have to appoint one judicial member. In the event the government wants to appoint a retired high court judge, the Chief Justice of the high court could be asked to suggest the name or the process could be completed from the applications. Typically, retired judges would never work as members when the chairman is an ex-IAS official as there is consideration that the judge be the chairman. So, the government may consider appointing a retired sessions judge as member, said officials.