Administration of oath to Justice Umesh Kumar as DERC chairperson stands deferred: Supreme Court

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the oath taking of DERC chairperson-designate Justice (retd) Umesh Kumar, while deciding to examine the constitutional validity of a provision of the Centre's recent ordinance governing such an appointment. The top court also issued notices to the Centre and the office of Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on the plea of the Delhi government which also challenges the June 21 notification of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs appointing Justice Kumar as the DERC (Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission) chairperson.

Justice Kumar is a former judge of the Allahabad High Court. When the counsel for the Centre objected to the deferment of oath taking of the former judge, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha observed that it was rather inclined to stay the MHA notification.

The bench said it recorded the submissions of senior lawyer A M Singhvi, appearing for the Delhi government, on deferring the oath taking process to deal with the matter in a «non-controversial» manner. «It has been understood that the administering of oath, in pursuance of the notification of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs dated June 21, 2023 to the former judge of the Allahabad High Court shall stand deferred.» Observing that since the matter involved «pure question of law», the bench sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani and fixed the plea for hearing on July 11.

«Issue notice. Since the constitutional validity of the Section 45 D of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) (Ordinance), 2023 has been called into question, a formal notice shall also be served on the Attorney General for India.