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Centre urged to fill SERC posts

HT Correspondent

CHANDIGARH: The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has urged the Centre to initiate steps to ensure timely selection of chairman and members to fill vacancies in the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
In separate letters to the union power ministry and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), AIPEF chairman Padamjit Singh wrote on Monday that the process of selection of new chairman and members should be started one year in advance and completed one month before the expiry of the term of chairman/members to ensure proper functioning of the regulatory body.
The federation has made the request after HT printed a story
on November 7 on the delay in appointment of the chairman of Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) in Haryana.
The three-member selection committee, constituted five months ago, is still to make its recommendations to the state government for the appointment of the chairman. The power department had received 30-odd applications in August 2011, but continues to sit over them.
AIPEF has urged the CERC to advise the power ministry to make suitable amendments in the Electricity Act 2003 to plug the loophole whereby the state governments can make the regulatory body partially defunct or non-functional by not appointing the chairman or members. The forum of regulators has also been requested to examine these issues.

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