NEW DELHI: The swearing-in ceremony for the pro tem chairman of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) is set to take place on August 31, and Atishi, the Power Minister of Delhi, will be officiating the administration of the oath. The Office of the Delhi Power Minister has issued a press release outlining that the event is expected to be attended by all Delhi ministers, as well as senior officials from the power department, DERC, power generation companies, and ex-officio board members of power companies.

The role of interim chairperson for the DERC has been assumed by Retired Justice Jayant Nath. Following his retirement from the Delhi High Court in November 2021, Justice Nath's nomination as the interim chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) was made by the Supreme Court on August 4. This decision came after both the Lieutenant Governor (LG) and the AAP government failed to come to a consensus on the appointment. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud led a bench that appointed Justice (retd) Nath to the position of Chairperson for DERC, as the Delhi government and LG's office deferred the responsibility of selecting a former Judge as the Commission's Chairperson to the apex court.

In a prior ruling, the Supreme Court had stated that due to the disagreement between Delhi's Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor regarding the appointment of the DERC Chairperson, a temporary ad-hoc appointment would be made until the matter is conclusively resolved. The Delhi government took the matter to the Supreme Court, contesting the appointment of former Allahabad High Court judge Justice Umesh Kumar as the DERC chairperson. The argument was based on the claim that the appointment had been made unilaterally by the Lieutenant Governor without the government's concurrence.

For the past four months, the DERC has been without a Chairperson since the previous Chairperson, Justice (Retd) Shabihul Hasnain, concluded their tenure on January 9, 2023, upon reaching the age of 65.

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