The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to resume administrative operations and pass orders on 174 reserved cases.
The apex court has allowed two members of the regulatory commission to resume office for administrative work as the government informed it has appointed a legal member.
However, the adjudicatory work by the two members- I S Jha, former Power Grid Corp chairman, and Arun Goyal, ex-bureaucrat– can begin only when the member (law) takes charge.
“Hon’ble SC has accepted my suggestions to let both the members resume their and perform administrative functions but adjudicatory functions will commence once member (law) joins the office,” advocate-on-record Ravi Sharma told ET.
Industry experts said the development comes as a relief as CERC would now be able to clear reserved pending cases till the time member law joins.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had in December approved the proposal for appointment of Pravas Kumar Singh, member (legal), Jharkhand SERC to the post of member (law) in the CERC.
The appointment has been made for a period of five years.
CERC has not held hearings since August 28, after the Supreme Court asked two of its members to go on leave till the time a member-law is appointed. This left the regulator with just chairperson P K Pujari while the quorum for hearings is two members, besides the chair.
Due to suspension of the CERC’s operations, all new and partly heard hearings have got delayed. The CERC held 130-140 hearings each in July and August while the number of petitions received was higher.
