New Delhi, Sep 9 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to clarify as to what decision has been taken in respect of tariff for the year 2010-2011.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan directed the members of DERC to convene a meeting within a week and intimate the court about their decision over the current year’s approved tariff by Sep 23.
The bench made it clear that the DERC would inform the court, by the next date of hearing, if there was any dissenting opinion by any of the members. The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a direction to the city government to vacate the stay on the DERC’s approved tariff for the current year.
According to the petitioner, the DERC has fixed the hike of tariff to 40 percent, based on the annual revenue return filed by the Discoms according to which the companies have generated a surplus amount of Rs.3,577 crore.
The commission had approved the tariff for this year but on May 1 the discoms made a representation to the government seeking a 50 to 70 percent hike in existing tariff, the petitioner said.
The petition said the decision was taken by the commission but one of the three members was to sign on it in April this year. However, before its release, the state government intervened and stayed the approved tariff in May, which was illegal.
