HC notice to AAP govt on appointing TRANSCO official

The Delhi High Court (HC) has sought the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's response on the plea alleging that the appointment of Director of Finance for TRANSCO, a state-owned power company, was not approved by Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal.

In his order, Justice V K Rao told the authorities to file its response and details of the action taken by the Power Department to give this position to its Company Secretary.

Surendar Babbar, a senior officer in the firm, had alleged that his seniority was overlooked, even though he was the only officer eligible for the post. Employed as the General Manager (Finance) with TRANSCO, Babbar claimed that the firm's Company Secretary was wrongly allowed to take over the charge of Director (Finance).

The plea also stated that Babbar was sent out of the power company earlier due to some irregularities in the operations of projects worth Rs 200 crore, executed by the Power Grid Corporation.

While issuing notice to TRANSCO and its Company Secretary, the court said: "Any action taken by any of the respondents pursuant to and on the basis of impunged order of June 5, 2017, will be subject to the outcome of this court." The next hearing has been scheduled for August 3.