SC directs Delhi government to fill DERC vacancies within two months
The Supreme Court directed a Delhi government-appointed selection committee to complete appointments of the DERC chairperson and two members within two months. The court also sought a compliance affidavit, while an NGO alleged the power regulator’s functioning and adjudicatory role had been severely affected by prolonged vacancies
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked a selection committee appointed by the city government to ensure the appointments of chairperson and two members to the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission within two months.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took on record a notification issued by the BJP government in Delhi that said it constituted a search and selection committee to fill up three vacant posts in the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on May 27 in pursuance of an earlier direction.
The bench asked the search panel to make an endeavour to select and ensure the appointments of the chairperson and two members in the DERC within a period of two months.
It also asked the government to file a compliance affidavit after two months when the matter will be taken up again. Lawyer Pranav Sachdeva, appearing for the petitioner ‘Energy Watchdog’, an NGO, had urged the bench to direct the panel to ensure the appointments within one month.
The DERC is a statutory body for regulating the power sector in the national capital. It sets the price of electricity, grants licences to utility companies, ensures quality of service, and resolves disputes between consumers and power providers.
Earlier, the bench had directed the Delhi government to inform it when the selection committee will be notified for making regular appointments of chairperson and members in the DERC. The bench was informed that a proposal regarding the constitution of the selection committee was moved on May 4.
Sachdeva had alleged that the DERC was not taking up adjudicatory functions for the last one year.
The top court had earlier sought a response from the Delhi government on a plea seeking a direction to make regular appointments of chairperson and members in the DERC. The NGO, in its plea, had referred to an August 2025 order of the apex court in which it was recorded that the counsel appearing for the Delhi government had assured that the process of regular appointments in the DERC would be completed expeditiously.
The plea said that despite the assurance given before the apex court, the explicit statutory provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, and an April 2018 verdict mandating the inclusion of a judicial member/person of law as a member of the commission, the Delhi government failed to take any steps to make regular appointments in the DERC.
It claimed that the present composition of the DERC was wholly contrary to the law as it consisted of only two pro tem members, and lacked a chairperson as well as a person of law as member.
“Since the pro tem members are operating solely pursuant to a temporary mechanism devised by this court in the interest of justice, the petitioner is constrained to approach this court to seek vacation of their appointments and to seek directions for the regular appointment process to be undertaken in accordance with law,” the plea said.
It argued that the lack of a judicial member/person of law completely disabled the DERC from fulfilling its adjudicatory functions. “This violates the consumers’ right under Articles 14 and 21, inasmuch as petitions/applications under Section 142 of the Electricity Act are no longer being heard or listed as per administrative notice/noting on the cause list dated July 15, 2025, of DERC’s website… which came to be issued after the chairperson Justice (retd) Umesh Kumar superannuated in July 2025,” the plea said.
It claimed that the status quo also violated the core premise of the Electricity Act, which requires the state electricity regulatory commissions to be autonomous and independent from governmental interference.
The plea said regular, tenured appointments ensure impartiality and autonomy in discharge of both the adjudicatory and regulatory functions of the DERC. “Furthermore, aside from the pro tem members’ regime prevailing being contrary to the Electricity Act, such mechanism is also constitutionally impermissible for being destructive of the basic structure principles of separation of power and adjudicatory independence,” it said.
The plea said the continuing failure of the Delhi government to appoint a judicial member/person of law as a member of the DERC resulted in a situation wherein complaints or petitions under Section 142 of the Electricity Act were not being listed and heard, thereby violating the consumers’ fundamental rights to access judicial redress for complaints against DISCOMs (distribution companies).
It sought a direction to the Delhi government to file an affidavit explaining the steps, if any, undertaken by it to comply with its assurance given to the top court in August last year to make regular appointments expeditiously.
The plea also sought a direction to the Delhi government to forthwith constitute a selection committee to make regular appointments of members in the DERC.
