The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a recently constituted selection committee to immediately recommend appointments to filling vacancies in the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) [Energy Watchdog v. Government of NCT of Delhi and Anr.]

A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi has directed that the panel take immediate steps to identify a candidates to fill the position of the DERC's chairperson and members.

The Court has called on the panel to finish the process within two months.

The order came in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by a non-government organisation, Energy Watchdog, seeking regular appointments to the DERC and the constitution of a selection committee under Section 85 of the Electricity Act, 2003.

The PIL pointed out that DERC currently had only two pro-tem technical members. Consequently, the adjudicatory functions have virtually ceased. Consumers’ complaints had not been heard or listed since July 15, 2025, the Court was told.

On May 25, the Court pulled up the State government over the delay in constituting a selection committee after noting that the DERC had been without a chairperson for nearly a year. 

The Bench observed that the process had been going nowhere.  

The Delhi government's counsel informed the Bench that it had moved a proposal to constitute the selection committee on May 4, 2026. It sought additional time, assuring that appointments would be completed within three months once the committee was in place. 

The Court, therefore, had granted the State two days to come back with a clear indication of the exact number of days within which the selection committee would be notified, so that the Court could fix a firm, time-bound schedule for completing the appointment process.

The Court noted today that the selection panel is now in place, and proceeded to direct it to do the needful to fill DERC vacancies within two months.