The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has indefinitely suspended its September hearings due to short-staff. The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday asked two of the regulator’s members to go on leave. The apex court’s decision was in response to a plea seeking to enforce its own 2018 order which mandated a person from law to be appointed first as commission members.
As per its organisational structure, the CERC is headed by the chairperson, along with four members: law, technical, finance and ex-officio. The position for the law member currently remains vacant. A minimum of two members needs to be there from the top positions to preside over hearings. With the two members on leave, government sources said that legal opinions are being explored to see if the chairperson of the regulator, who is the ex-officio member, can join CERC chairperson PK Pujari, to continue hearings.
