In yet another face-off between Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and the Delhi Government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has nominated fresh directors to the boards of the three power distribution companies in the Capital. The usual practice, so far, has been that the L-G approves any such decision according to the Electricity Act, said an official. However, the government through its legal department directly passed the order to the three discoms – BRPL, BYPL and TPDDL - where it has 49 per cent stake.

The directors, who have been replaced, include Shakuntala Gamlin, Principal Secretary (Power), who was recently mired in controversy over being appointed as Acting Chief Secretary, Arun Baroka, S K Shirvastava, and S N Sahai.

Power Minister Satyendra Jain said the move is to relieve the senior bureaucrats from multiple works. “The senior officials are busy with several other important works. We have decided to assign mid-level officials and professionals like accountants into the boards of directors of the discoms. In no way are we bypassing the L-G. Our move is very much within the law,” Mr. Jain told The Hindu . Till now, the government has appointed only IAS officers as directors of the discoms. The new directors include Sanjeev Singh, managing director, Delhi Transco Limited (DTL), Prem Prakash, director, operations, DTL, and Anajani Kumar Sharma and Sudhir Verma, who are said to be mid-level professionals. However, a section of the bureaucrats in the Delhi Government termed the move to appoint “professionals” as against the rule. Each discom has nine directors on its board out of which four are nominated by the government.

“The government can not nominate any expert to the boards of directors of the discoms. Nomination of the bureaucrats is in line with the tradition because with it comes responsibility and accountability which an IAS officer being part of the government understands,” said a senior government official on condition of anonymity.

The usual practice, so far, has been that the L-G approves any such decision according to the Electricity Act, says official