More teeth to Power Act

More teeth to Power Act
PRAFULLA MARPAKWAR

MUMBAI, JULY 18: The Maharashtra government is having to amend the Electricity Supply Act to get rid of a particularly sticky non-official member of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board.

Apparently, the refusal of Anil Rathod, a non-official member, to resign from the board has left the government with no option but to amend the Electricity Supply Act. Rathod was appointed for a three-year term by the Sena-BJP government as were two others -- Sudam Mandlik and Ashok Samant. Normally, though these are tenure appointments, the non-official members resign with a change in government. While Mandlik and Samant did that, Rathod has stood his ground.

Section 5 of the Act provides for the constitution and composition of the State Electricity Boards, section 8 empowers the government to suspend or remove the Chairman or the members for being disqualified on specific grounds. But that is a protracted process, involving serving of notice and giving the person an opportunity to present his case.

``The process is complicated and time consuming and puts clear restrictions on the powers of the government in removing the Chairman or the members,'' said a senior official. So, the amendment will now provide that the term of office of the Chairman and the members shall be subject to the ``pleasure of the state government''.

Of course, since the amendment is being made, it is being broad-based and will include provision for the removal of the Chairman and the non-official members. But since the chairman mostly belongs to the Indian Administrative Service and his removal is well within the powers of the government, the provision is hardly likely to be used against chairpersons.

``A bill to amend the Act has already been introduced. The government should have the powers to dismiss the Chairman or the members if it so desires,'' a senior official said.

The official said though the bill was introduced on Monday, an ordinance to amend the Electricity Supply Act has already been promulgated by Governor P C Alexander.