Mubashir Alam
Srinagar, Jun 01 :
The Union Power Ministry has set the ball rolling for filling the post of member in the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh Union Territories.
As per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the Ministry has initiated the process for filling the post of member in the quasi-judicial body as the incumbent member is completing his tenure on June 30, 2024.
The JERC for UTs carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir was constituted by the Union Power Ministry on June 18, 2020. The commission consists of a chairperson and a member. On June 30, 2024, Muhammad Rafi Andrabi would complete his term.
Citing a 2018 Supreme Court judgement, the Union Power Ministry’s notification states that the member should be from a judicial background.
As per the judgement, It is mandatory that there should be a person of law as a member of the Commission, which requires a person, who is, or has been holding a judicial office or is a person possessing professional qualifications with substantial experience in the practice of law, who has the requisite qualifications to have been appointed as a Judge of the High Court or a district judge.
The appointment of the member shall be governed by the relevant provisions of the Electricity Act-2003 and the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Union Territories except Delhi (salary, allowances and other conditions of service of chairperson and member) Rules 2007, and as amended from time to time, the notification further states—(KNO)