New Delhi: Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta
has applied for the post of chairman of the Delhi Regulatory
Electricity Commission (DERC), which is in the process of
finalising a new power tariff for the year 2011-12.
DERC is likely to get a chairman by next month after a
hiatus of six months as the post is lying vacant since the
retirement of Berjinder Singh in September last year.
Sources said Mehta is among the candidates, including
several retired IAS officials, who have applied for the top
post in the city`s power regulator.
Mehta, a 1975 batch IAS officer, was elevated to the post
of Chief Secretary in December 2007. Currently, he is also
looking after the power department as Power Secretary.
Due to retire from his post in November this year, if
Mehta is appointed to head the DERC, his tenure will be for
five years.
In January, Delhi Finance Commissioner J P Singh had
resigned from his post and joined DERC as a member.
Sources said the process of appointing the new chairman
is likely to be completed by next month following which the
regulator is expected to finalise revised power tariff for the
year 2011-12.
A high-level committee, also comprising a High Court
judge and a representative from a Central Electricity
Regulatory Council, will select the next DERC head.
In May last year, the city government had, through a
notification, stalled DERC`s decision to announce the annual
tariff for 2010-11 till it re-examines the demands from
discoms to increase the rates.
The DERC, which was making last minute preparations to
announce the new tariff, after receiving the government`s
directive had indicated that it had planned to cut down the
tariff by 20 to 25 per cent as discoms would have a surplus of
around Rs 4,000 crore if the existing tariff was not changed.
The government`s notification was quashed by the court
last month describing the intervention "absolutely
unjustified, unwarranted, untenable."
All three private power distribution companies have been
demanding a substantial hike in tariff citing increased power
purchase cost.
PTI
