The Hindu : New Delhi News : Appointment raises eyebrows; hunt on for new DERC chief

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 23, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Appointment raises eyebrows; hunt on for new DERC chief

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, NOV. 22. In a move that is bound to raise many eyebrows, the Sheila Dikshit Government has appointed the former Chairman-cum-Managing Director (Transco), Jagdish Sagar, as "consultant in the infrastructure and power sectors'' amid speculation that he was being roped in to "settle contentious issues'' pertaining to private distribution companies, indicating that all was not well with the power sector reforms.

On the other hand, the Delhi Government has initiated a hunt to find a suitable replacement for the Chairman of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) as the term of the present incumbent, V.K. Sood, ends on December 9. According to sources in the Delhi Government, Mr. Sagar had been appointed consultant by the Delhi Government as he was considered close to the power that be and was one of the architects of privatisation of the power sector in the Capital a couple of years ago.

Being a former Principal Secretary (Power), Mr. Sagar had been in the forefront of giving a "slew of concessions" to the private distribution companies without setting in place an in-built complaint redress system that would look into the problems of inflated bills, over-charging, fast-running meters and settling arrears faced by consumers.

He along with the former Principal Secretary, Ramesh Chandra, had been accused of going out of the way to accommodate the interests of the private distribution companies, virtually making them unaccountable for their lapses and putting the Government on a path where it has no other option but to carry on with the process of appeasing these companies.

It is learnt that the Delhi Government had initiated a move to get Mr. Sagar appointed as DERC chairman to succeed Mr. Sood but it faced objections from a certain section of the Government including Raj Nivas.

It is understood that the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor, B.L. Joshi, had been apprised of the matter relating to appointment of Mr. Sagar and it is unlikely that Raj Nivas will go along with the view of the Delhi Government keeping in mind his role in the privatisation process.

On the other hand, Mr. Chandra also seems to be in contention for the post of DERC Chairman despite the fact that the previous Lieutenant-Governor, Vijai Kapoor, had rejected his becoming a member of the Commission in view of this role in the power reforms process. It is learnt that Mr. Kapoor had extensively pointed to the fact that Mr. Chandra had gone out of the way to accommodate the viewpoint of the private companies despite their not coming up to the mark in the initial bidding process.

However, the present Delhi Chief Secretary, S. Regunathan, who also holds the charge of Principal Secretary (Power), is understood to be still backing the candidature of Mr. Sagar or Mr. Chandra. "With the employees also in a mood for confrontation and questions being raised about the private sector reforms as also the consumer redress system, the Government is jittery about the future outcome.

Therefore, it wants to appoint a DERC chairman who is more pro-Government and pro-private companies so as to ensure a smooth sailing for the coming years,'' a senior official remarked.

However, it is learnt that the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, will take the final decision on the appointment and also on two additional members for the DERC.

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