Senior BJP leader Vijay Jolly has urged the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission to immediately announce its new power tariff order to provide relief to the common man in the city.
Stating that the DERC was not bound to follow the directive of the Delhi Government, Mr. Jolly complimented the Solicitor General of India for giving the legal go ahead to the DERC on the matter.
“It may be recalled that the Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi Government had issued directions under Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003, and had asked the DERC not to go ahead with its tariff announcement just a day before it was due. The Solicitor General has now held the directive of the Government as ‘ultra vires and void'. The DERC being a statutory independent body alone is empowered to take and announce its quasi- judicial decisions and orders,” added Mr. Jolly.
The former legislator alleged that the State Government had intervened and stopped the Regulatory Commission from announcing new reduced power tariff rates at the behest of private power distribution companies in Delhi, who are mounting pressure for a 20 per cent hike in power rates.
“But the latest advise of the Solicitor General is a direct indictment of the Government ,” he added.
