New Delhi, Mar 29 (PTI) A bill that seeks to raise the age of superannuation of members and chairman of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) up to 70 years was passed by the House on Tuesday.

"The Delhi Electricity Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2022 fixes the term of the members and chairman of DERC to five years or age of 70 years, whichever is earlier," Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain said before the passing of the Bill.

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The term of the members and chairman of the DERC was five years or age up to 65 years, whichever was earlier. The panel comprises a chairperson and two members.

The reform was brought in to avoid any future circumstance where the members and chairman retired together, affecting the functioning of the Commission.

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Last year, the announcement of power tariff for 2021-22 was delayed as the then DERC chairman Justice (retd) SS Chauhan completed his term on July 4. One member of the Commission had retired earlier in January 2021.

Justice Shabihul Hasnain ‘Shastri' retired from the Allahabad High Court and joined the DERC as its chairperson in July 2021. The power tariffs were announced in September. The tariff order for a financial year, in the normal course, is announced before April 1.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)