Supreme Court appoints former Delhi High Court judge Justice Jayant Nath as temporary DERC Chairperson

The Supreme Court on Friday appointed former Delhi High Court judge Justice Jayant Nath as Chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on a pro tem basis..On July 20, the Court was informed that no consensus could be reached between the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) on who should head the DERC.The Court, therefore, had said that it would appoint someone temporarily to perform the Chairperson's duties until the dispute between the Delhi government and the LG is decided.Accordingly, a Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra today appointed Justice Nath to head DERC temporarily. The Court further directed the LG and the Chief Minister to notify the honorarium payable to the retired judge, given his other commitments."We request Justice Jayant Nath to be the DERC Chairperson, former Delhi HC judge. Since the judge is amidst other work including arbitration. Since the nature of the appointment is pro tem, the LG and CM shall in consultation with Justice Nath shall notify the honorarium payable," the Court said.The Court also remarked that the judge was dispassionate and above all controversy. .The order was passed on a plea by the Delhi government challenging the appointment of Justice Umesh Kumar to the post. The plea underlined that Justice Kumar's appointment was made on the basis of the Delhi Services Ordinance, which was under challenge on ground that it flouts the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench judgment on control of services in Delhi..On July 4, the Court had deferred the swearing-in of Justice Kumar. During a subsequent hearing on July 17, the top court had urged the LG and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led government to jointly suggest a name for the Chairperson.However, since the two functionaries could not arrive at a consensus on this issue, the Court decided to appoint an ad hoc chairperson.