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New Delhi, Feb 26 () Concerned that several State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) are functioning without chairmen and adequate strength of members, with posts lying vacant for long periods, the Union Ministry of Power has asked the state governments to fill all the blanks in a certain time – bound way.
Power Secretary Alok Kumar recently wrote to all chief secretaries pointing out that vacancies in these commissions are hampering their smooth functioning and therefore directed them to expedite filling up of the vacancies.
SERCs play an important role in ensuring reliable and quality electricity supply to consumers and therefore for their smooth functioning, the vacancies of chairmen and members should be filled in a time-bound manner, he said in his letter.
For this, the states should refer to the selection boards, six months in advance before the approval or the end of the term of the chairmen or members, the ministry told the state governments.
The directive from the Ministry of Energy to the states to expeditiously fill the vacancies of chairmen and members in SERC, came in light of the fact that there are many such commissions where there is almost no strength.
One such example is that of the understaffed Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).
A three-member commission, DERC consists of a chairman and two full-time members.
With important G20 events scheduled to be held in the national capital throughout the year, DERC, apart from newly appointed chairman Rajeev Srivastava (whose appointment was approved last month by the Delhi government), has only one member, technically, AK Ambasht at present .
The member position is, legally, currently vacant.
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(This story was not edited by Kashmir Monitor staff and was automatically generated from a syndicated feed)