Electricity Bill notified sans regulator clause

Government has notified the recently passed Electricity Bill barring a controversial clause pertaining to superintendence and control of regulators.

‘‘The Electricity Bill, 2003 has been enacted into a law starting June 10 except for a clause relating to superintendence and control to be exercised over regulators’’, power secretary R.V. Shahi said on Wednesday at a session organised by CII on the new bill.

Shahi said Section 121 of the Act covering the issue has been deliberately kept out of the notification as Power Minister Anant Geete had already informed Parliament about introducing amendments to the clause. The clause concerns appointment of chairperson of an appellate body proposed to be set up to hear appeals from various regulators. Shahi added that government proposes to bring out various policies concerning tariffs, rural electricity and electrification as required by it under the recent legislation by year end.