The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to file its response to a public interest litigation petition challenging the appointment of S. Akshayakumar as Chairman and G. Rajagopal as Member of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC).
Admitting the petition, a Division Bench of Justices Aruna Jagadeesan and Pushpa Sathyanarayana said the notice would be returnable by December 9.
The petitioner, M.G. Rasool, an advocate, said the commission, a quasi-judicial body enjoying the powers of a civil court, was expected to be free from any prejudice and conflict of interest in the appointment of chairperson and members. The appointments should comply with the Electricity Act. If not, it would lead to civil consequences.
In the instant case, the selection committee was not constituted six months prior to the anticipated vacancy or within a month after the vacancy arose. The panel had not submitted its recommendations within three months of its constitution. Furthermore, it had not recommended a panel of two names for every vacancy referred to it and recommended only one name instead. So there was violation of law. In the appointment of the chairman and the member, the committee had not satisfied itself that they had no financial or other interest.
The qualifications of the two persons had not been scrutinised. The commission had started functioning actively towards fixing electricity tariff. Hence, the court should intervene, the petitioner said.
