New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said Delhi High Court judge Justice Jayant Nath will continue to be the interim chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) despite attaining the superannuation age of 65 years.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said this while hearing a fresh plea by the Delhi government in a pending case.
The retirement age for the chairperson of DERC is 65 years and Justice Nath would be reaching 65 years of age soon.
Apex court last year appointed Justice Nath as interim chairperson of DERC
The apex court, while hearing a plea filed by the Delhi government earlier, had on its own appointed Justice Nath as the interim chairperson of the DERC on August 4 last year in a bid to resolve the impasse between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government and the office of Lieutenant Governor (LG) over appointment of the DERC chairman.
Apex court extended tenure of Justice Nath while hearing a fresh plea by Delhi Government
The counsel representing the Delhi Government told the bench that it has no objection if the tenure of Justice Nath is extended beyond 65 years. The counsel representing the LG office also told the bench that it had no objection to the plea of the Delhi Government if the age criteria is waived off in the case for time being.
The apex court bench, while recording the consent of the Delhi Government and the LG office, said that Justice Nath was well aware of the affairs of the DERC now and he could remain in the office till the main plea of Delhi government was decided and extended his tenure beyond 65 years.
Then Delhi Chief Minister, LG were at loggerheads over appointment of DERC chairperson
The top court had on July 17 last year asked the then Delhi Chief Minister, Kejriwal and Delhi LG VK Saxena, who were at loggerheads since January last year over the appointment of DERC chairperson, to rise above “political bickering” and discuss who could head the DERC, saying they should get down to “serious work of governance” away from the glare of publicity.
The top court later intervened and appointed Justice Nath as the interim chairman of the DERC after it was informed that Saxena and Kejriwal failed to reach a consensus over the name of a person to be appointed as the DERC chairperson.
