Person with judicial background to preside over tribunals

The common practice of keeping vacancies of chairpersons in tribunals pending for long periods and allowing bureaucrats to act as their heads received another blow, this time from the Gujarat High Court. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission was topless for a long time and one technical member was presiding over it along with a former employee of the electricity board. This was challenged by Utility Users' Welfare Association. Allowing most of its prayers, the high court stated that since "the vacancy of chairperson was not filled up for a long time and a large number of litigants are waiting for adjudication, the state government is directed to undertake the process for making the appointment of chairperson at the earliest, but not later than three months." The court ruled that the powers exercised by the commission are equal to that of a civil court and so a person with judicial background must preside over it as far as possible. Otherwise, it may result in the exercise of "un-channelised and unguided option" made available to the state. Further, if the person to be appointed as chairperson is not having experience of judicial proceedings, "the commission may be comprising of all persons having knowledge of engineering, finance, commerce, economics or management. If such situation is created on account of the aforesaid interpretation of the provisions of the Electricity Act, the commission would be manned by persons having no experience whatsoever of the judicial proceedings, much less as that of the Civil Court."