Court adjourns appointment of former MSEDCL officer on ECGRF

Aurangabad, Jan 20:

The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday passed an order stating not to appoint anyone other than a legal expert (former judge) on the electricity consumer grievance redressal forum (ECGRF) till the next hearing.

CMIA secretary Satish Lonikar and Hemant Kapadia had filed a joint petition through advocate Kishor Sant in the Aurangabad bench against several provisions of the new electricity act. According to petition, section 42.5 of the Electricity Act, 2003, it is mandatory for the power distribution company to set up an ECGRF and an electricity ombudsman to redress the grievances of electricity consumers. Accordingly, since 2006, a total of 19 forums have been started, 16 for Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) and 3 for other companies. The design and functioning of this forum is in accordance with the 2006 Act passed by the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC). In September 2020, the MERC repealed the 2006 Act and passed a new act which stipulates that a retired superintendent engineer of MSEDCL may be appointed as the chairman of the forum and an officer working as a director may be appointed as the power ombudsman. Many consumer organizations and associations in the state had expressed their opposition to this decision.

Process will not be transparent

As per the petition, complaints lodged in MSEDCL's power consumer forum are against MSEDCL and the adjudication process is expected to be transparent. It was pointed out to the court that if a MSEDCL officer is appointed on the forum, the judiciary will be completely dominated by MSEDCL and the power consumers will not get proper justice.