Supreme Court Allows Justice Jayant Nath To Continue As DERC Chairperson Regardless Of Retirement Age
LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK
21 Oct 2024 4:22 PM IST
The Supreme Court on Monday (October 21) allowed Justice Jayant Nath to continue as the Chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) regardless of the attainment of the age of retirement (65 years).
Justice Nath was appointed by the Supreme Court in August 2023 on a pro-term basis in view of the stalemate between the Delhi Government and the Delhi Lieutenant Governor regarding who has the power to appoint the DERC Chairperson.
Since Justice Nath is about to attain the age of 65 years soon, an application was filed by the Delhi Government seeking to allow him to continue. Both Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi(for Delhi Govt) and Senior Advocate Sajay Jain (for Delhi LG) agreed that Justice Nath can continue till the dispute between the Delhi Government and the Union Government regarding the powers of appointment is settled.
Following that, the bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra ordered :
"By an order dated 04.08.2023, Justice Jayanth Nath, former judge of the High Court of Delhi, was appointed to discharge the duties of the Chairperson of th DERC. In order to obviate any controversy on his having crossed the age of 65 years, the appointment of Justice Jayant Nath shall continue nothwithstanding any issue regarding the age."
Background
The issue arose when the previous Chairperson of DERC, retired Allahabad High Court Judge, Justice Shabihul Hasnain demitted office on 09.01.2023 upon attaining the age of 65 years. Consequently, on 04.01.2023, a proposal to appoint retired MP High Court Judge, Justice Rajeev Kumar Shrivastava was placed before the LG of NCT of Delhi. However, no action was taken on the proposal made by the Government and the DERC continued functioning without a Chairperson for around 4 months. The LG took the stand that he needs legal advice on whether the opinion of the Delhi High Court Chief Justice is needed for accepting the Delhi Government's proposal.
In April 2023, the Supreme Court issued notice on a writ petition filed by the GNCTD against the Delhi LG's inaction in approving the proposal to appoint Justice Rajeev Kumar Shrivastava.
On May 19, 2023, the Supreme Court clarified that as per the Electricity Act 2003, only the concurrence of the Chief Justice of that High Court from which the recomendee judge retired is required and the concurrence of the Delhi High Court Chief Justice is not required. Clarifying this position, the Supreme Court directed the LG to take follow up action.
Since Justice Shrivastava expressed difficulty in accepting the post, the Delhi Government proposed the name of another person - Justice (retired) Sangeet Lodha of the Rajasthan High Court- on June 21, 2023. However, on the same day, the President appointed Justice (Retd.) Shri Umesh Kumar of Allahabad High Court as the DERC Chairman. On the Delhi Government objecting to this appointment, the Supreme Court on July 4, 2023 allowed the Delhi Government to defer the oath taking ceremony for the appointee.
The Court later asked both the Delhi Government and LG to propose names by consent. Since they could not reach a consensus, the Court on its own appointed Justice Nath.
Case : Government of NCT of Delhi vs Union of India W.P.(C) No. 669/2023
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