Retired Delhi High Court judge Jayant Nath on Thursday took charge as the interim chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal assuring him of his government’s “full cooperation”. Nath was administered the oath of office by Power Minister Atishi at a simple function at the Delhi Secretariat.

Atishi said she looked forward to working with Nath to improve the power sector. After taking oath, Nath assumed charge at the DERC office (Viniyamak Bhawan) in Malviya Nagar, officials said.

Nath was nominated to the post of DERC chief by the Supreme Court on August 4 following a feud between the Delhi government and Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena over who should head the city’s power regulator.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Kejriwal congratulated Nath on taking charge as the DERC chairperson. “I wholeheartedly welcome Retd Justice Jayant Nath ji as the new Chairperson of DERC. Congratulations and best wishes. Electricity is a very vital sector and we have been trying our best to keep improving it. I assure full cooperation of my govt,” the chief minister said. Nath’s responsibilities include announcing the new power tariff for the current financial year.

The tariff could not be announced last year because of several reasons, including posts of the chairperson and a member of the three-member DERC being vacant. The post of the DERC chairperson fell vacant after Justice (retd) Shabihul Hasnain demitted office on January 9.

Taking a call on issues like regulatory assets of discoms and their demand for a power hike and direct benefit transfer of subsidy to consumers, among others, are some of the challenges before Nath.