NOTIFICATION

GENERAL 

Title and commencement of the Regulations :

1. (1) These Regulations may be called the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1999.

(2) The Regulations shall come into force from the date of their publication in the official Gazette.

Definitions :

2. (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires :

(a) 'Act' means the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998 (No. 14 of 1998) :
(b) 'Commission' means the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission, established under the Act :
(c) 'Chairperson' means the Chairperson of the Commission ;
(d) 'Member' means Member of the Commission ;
(e) 'Secretary' means the Secretary of the Commission ;
(f) 'Officer' means an officer of the Commission, not being the member of the subordinate staff ;
(g) 'petition, means and includes all petitions, applications, complaints, appeals, replies, rejoinders, supplementary pleadings, other papers and documents ;
(h) 'proceedings' means and includes proceedings of all nature that the Commission may hold in the discharge of its functions under the Act ;
(i) 'Board' means the Madhya Pradesh  Electricity Board; and
(j) 'State Government' means the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

(2) Words or expressions occurring in these Regulations and not defined herein but defined in the Act shall bear the meaning as in the Act. Words and expressions used in these Regulations but not defined either in Regulations or in the Act but defined in the Indian Electricity Act,1910 (No.9 of 1910) or the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 (No.54 of 1948) shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in those Acts.

(3) The provisions of the General Clauses Act, 1897 a amended from time to time shall apply to these Regulations.

Commission's office, office hours and sittings:

3. (1) The place of the offices of the Commission, may from time to time, be specified by the Commission, and by an order made in that behalf.

(2) Unless otherwise directed, the headquarters and offices of the Commission shall open daily except on Sundays, second and third Saturdays of the month and on holidays notified by the State Government. The headquarters and other offices of the Commission shall open at such times as the Commission may direct.

(3) When the last day for doing any act falls on a day on which the office of the Commission is closed and by reason there of the act cannot be done on that day, it may be done on the next day on which the office is open.

(4) The Commission may hold sittings for hearing matters at the headquarters or at any other place on days and time specified by the Commission.

Language of the Commission :

4. (1) The proceedings of the Commission shall be conducted in Hindi or English.

(2) No petition in any language other than Hindi or English shall be accepted by the Commission, unless accompanied by Hindi or English version.

Commission to have seal of its own:

5. (1) The Commission shall have a seal of its own. The impression of the seal shall be certified and kept on record of the Commission.

(2) Every order or communication made, notice issued or certified copy granted by the Commission, shall be stamped with the seal of the Commission and shall be certified by Secretary or an officer designated for the purpose.

Officers of the Commission:

6 (1) The Commission shall have the power to appoint officers including a Secretary for discharging various duties. The Commission shall also prescribe the qualifications, experience and other terms and conditions for the appointments.

(2) The Secretary shall perform such functions as are assigned to him by these Regulations or otherwise by the Commission or by the Chairperson.

(3) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of the above sub-clause, the Secretary shall have the following powers and perform the following duties, viz:

(i) he shall have custody of records and the seal of the Commission ;

(ii) he shall receive or cause to receive all petitions, application or references pertaining to the commission ;

(iii) he shall prepare or cause to prepare the briefs and summaries of all pleadings presented before the Commission in discharge of its function in this regard ;

(iv) he shall assist the Commission in proceedings conducted by the Commission ;

(v)he shall authenticate the orders passed by the Commission ;

(vi) he shall ensure compliance of the orders passed by the Commission ; and

(vii) he shall the right to collect from the State Governments, the Central Government and their agencies, including State Electricity Boards or other offices, companies and firms or any other party as may be directed by the Commission, such information as may be considered useful for the purpose of efficient discharge of the functions of the Commission under the Act and shall place the said information before the Commission.

(4) The Secretary may, with the approval of the Commission, delegate to any officer of the Commission any function required by these Regulation or otherwise, to be performed by the Secretary.

(5) In the absence of the Secretary, such other of the Commission, as may be designated by the Commission/Chairperson, shall exercise all the functions of the Secretary.

(6) The Commission/Chairperson may delegate to the officers such functions including functions that may be required by these Regulations to be performed by the Secretary on terms and conditions, the Commission may specify for the purpose.

(7) The Commission at all times shall have the authority, either on an application made to it by any interested or affected party or suo motu, to entertain, review, revoke, revise, modify, amend, alter or otherwise change any order passed or action taken by the Secretary or the officers of the Commission, if the Commission considers the same to be appropriate.

Recognition of consumers associations :

7.(1) (a) Every association, or other body corporate representing any group which is desirous of being recognized may make an application to the Commission for such recognition and the Commission after holding such inquiry as may be considered appropriate, recognise the association, forum or the body corporate by issuance of a certificate of recognition.

(b.) An association, forum or body corporate holding a certificate of recognition or any person with the permission of the Commission, shall be entitled to participate in any proceedings before the Commission, except when the Commission directs otherwise, for reason to be recorded.

(c) It shall be open to the Commission to recognised any association or order body corporate or any other group already recognised by the State Government or the Board without observing the procedure, referred to above, for any particular proceeding.

(d) It shall be open to the Commission for the sake of timely completion of proceedings, to direct bunching up of associations/groups, etc. referred to above, so that they can make collective affidavits.

(2) The Commission may direct payment to the officer or person appointed to represent consumers interest, such a fees, costs and expenses by such of the parties to the proceedings as the Commission may consider appropriate.