Times of
India: Nagpur: Sunday, September 15, 2019.
Maharashtra
Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has apparently appointed an ineligible
person as electricity ombudsman of Nagpur region. Documents obtained by
Devashish Joshi under Right to Information (RTI) Act show that the ombudsman
Deepak Lad does not meet the criteria of MERC. Lad was appointed as the
ombudsman on March 22 this year.
While
MERC secretary Abhijit Deshpande refused to comment on the issue, Lad said that
TOI should talk to MERC and not him.
According
to MERC (Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum & Electricity Ombudsman)
Regulations, 2006, the qualification for an electricity ombudsman is: He shall
be constituted from among a retired judge of a high court, a retired secretary
to the government or a retired chief executive officer (CEO) of an electricity
sector utility.
Lad
retired as a chief engineer from MSEDCL. There are about 25 CEs in MSEDCL and
hence he can’t be called the CEO of MSEDCL. In fact, director (operations) is
considered to be the CEO of MSEDCL. He was then made a member of MERC after
which he was appointed as ombudsman.
Lad,
while mentioning his experience to MERC, stated: Part of a senior management
team of MSEDCL, actively involved in all policy matters (technical, commercial,
financial, administration and regulatory), reporting to the directors and
managing director. He nowhere claims that he was the CEO of MSEDCL.
RTI
documents showed that nine persons applied for the post of ombudsman. Of these,
only three were found eligible Jagannath Dange, Amol Joshi and Deepak Lad. MERC
chairman Anand Kulkarni wrote on the file that Lad was best suited for the post
considering his background and work experience. The remarks were written on
March 15, 2019.
A
MERC consumer representative on the condition of anonymity said that Lad was
demoted when he was appointed as the ombudsman. “It is the MERC which appoints
the ombudsman. Hence, ombudsman is subordinate to MERC members,” he added.
Activist
Anil Wadpalliwar slammed the MERC for appointing an ineligible person as the
ombudsman. “The practice of appointing state power utility officials as MERC
members and ombudsmen is wrong. These people presided over the ruin of power
sector of the state and now they are supposed to judge the performance of the
utilities,” he said.
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