Nagpur: Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) has strongly opposed Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission's (MERC's) resolution wherein all the cases would be decided by a single person — Commission chairman Anand Kulkarni. This rule will come into effect from January 1, 2018.
RB Goenka, chairman of VIA's Energy Cell, told the media that the MERC resolution was in contravention of the conduct of business.
Regulations 2004 where Regulation 29 had made it mandatory that the bench of commission shall consist of full strength of the commission. In Maharashtra the full bench is constituted by one chairperson and two members.
"The first provision of Regulation 29 allows to hear and decide specific matters or issues by a bench constituted by less than full strength. Thus the regulation provides the facility of constitution of smaller bench for specific issue on specific matter and not for all matters," said Goenka, who is also a director of MSEB Holding Company.
"The resolution passed is not for specific case or specific matter but is passed for all the matters and is therefore unlawful and bad in law. The Intention of law maker is to address the difficulty which may arise in the event of absence of any member under unavoidable circumstances or to facilitate the request of any member in the event of conflict of interest," he further said.
