Mumbai: Former Chief Secretary of Maharashtra Sanjay Kumar, who retired on February 28, has been appointed chairman of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC). His appointment will be for a period of five years. The post had been lying vacant ever since incumbent Anand Kulkarni’s term ended.
Late on Thursday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray signed off on Kumar’s appointment. The government will issue an order on Friday. Maharashtra Public Service Commission Chairman Satish Gavai too had been in contention for the post. Energy Minister Nitin Raut will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Kumar.
Kumar had earlier worked as the first MERC first secretary after it was formed in 1999 under the chairmanship of former Chief Secretary P Subrahmaniam. Kumar’s appointment as MERC chairman comes at a time when there is a rising chorus for uniform tariff in Mumbai and when the report of a three-member committee set up by the commission to probe the Mumbai power outage on October 12 last year is due.
