MERC notices to those against move on hearings

NAGPUR: Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has taken an unheard of decision to issue caveat notices to those opposing its move to stop recording its hearings. Most had been quoted by TOI in its report dated September 6 on the decision.
The normal procedure is to file a caveat in the concerned court. This ensures the court does not issue a ruling without hearing the caveator. Notices to possible petitioners are usually not issued.

The Commission on September 4 had unanimously passed a resolution for stopping audio and video recordings of its hearings. The copies of these recordings will not be made available to anybody. Moreover, all existing recordings will be destroyed.

MERC has issued notices to power consumer activist Pratap Hogade, his organization Maharashtra Veej Grahak Sanghatana, activist Ashish Chandarana, his organization Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA), electrical contractor Mahendra Jichkar, Suhas Khandekar and Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. Hogade, Chandarana and Jichkar had been quoted in the TOI report.

The notice states, ‘In the proposed writ petition the caveatees either jointly or singly may be petitioners and present caveator may be arrayed as respondent.’

Shridhar Purohit, MERC’s counsel in Nagpur bench of Bombay high court, had issued the notices on behalf of the Commission. “There is no law prohibiting me from issuing notices. I have taken the action as I was asked by my client to do so,” he told TOI. MERC secretary Abhijit Deshpande claimed he was unaware of the notices.

HC lawyer Shrirang Bhandarkar was highly critical of the notices. “This is an obnoxious and illegal move. The Commission is a quasi-judicial body. How can it do this? What is it afraid of? The reason is that its decision to stop recordings is illegal and it is afraid it would be stayed by the court. Issuing notices to possible petitioners is not statutorily prescribed,” he said.

Meanwhile, activist Anil Wadpalliwar has emailed a complaint to chairman of MERC opposing the decision to discontinue recording the hearings. He has pointed out that as per Section 78 of MERC Conduct of Business Regulations, 2004, 'The Commission shall as soon as may be practicable, maintain an indexed database of its records, inter alia, petitions filed, details of hearings conducted, orders/documents issued from time to time.' Clearly, the decision to not record the hearings goes against the spirit of this section, he said.

Moreover, MERC in its order dated June 14, 2013, stated that 'The transparency of proceedings has got compromised because of lack of recordings and it violates the spirit and letter of Section 86 (3) of Electricity Act, 2003.'