Chandigarh, July 12 -- Former Haryana finance minister Sampat Singh on Saturday alleged that the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission's (HERC) decision to constitute a three-member expert committee to examine the parallel electricity distribution licence application of Eleven Power amounted to abdication of its statutory authority. In a statement, Singh described the panel as an outsourced entity constituted through an opaque process and questioned the manner in which its members were selected. Referring to a Hindustan Times report of July 11, Singh said the circumstances surrounding the committee raised concerns about institutional transparency. "The commission admits it was simply in receipt of profiles of the three members. Who supplied these profiles? Why were no expressions of interest invited? Why was no conflict-of-interest disclosure placed in the public domain before these appointments? In a matter involving Haryana's most profitable electricity distribution zones, this opacity is a deliberate institutional failure," he alleged. Singh also questioned the appointment of retired IAS officer Alok Nigam as the committee's chairperson. Nigam's tenure as chief administrator of HUDA in 2004 coincided with the allotment of land in Gurugram to Global Health (Medanta). One of the directors and promoters of Eleven Power, whose licence application is under examination, is Medanta co-founder Sunil Sachdeva who was appointed as a director in Global Health on August 13, 2004. The former minister said the Electricity Act, 2003 envisages state commissions as expert quasi-judicial bodies capable of independently deciding such matters. Citing Section 84 of the Act, he said the law presumes commissions possess expertise in fields such as engineering, finance, commerce, economics, law and administration, leaving no justification for outsourcing the examination of a parallel licence application. He said the issue before the commission was straightforward and did not require an external panel. "When a fully empowered regulator retreats behind an ad hoc committee for a routine matter, the question is not about expertise but about intent, accountability and political independence," he alleged. Citing the Supreme Court's (SC) judgment in Kerala State Electricity Board v/s Jhabua Power, Singh said a regulator's quasi-judicial functions cannot be displaced or diluted by relying on the opinion of a hand-picked panel. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said that granting a parallel license to Eleven Power for a parallel electricity distribution network in Gurugram and Nuh revenue districts would prove to be a disastrous step. Expressing opposition to the move, Hooda demanded rejection of the license petition, citing public interest. The leader of the Opposition said employee organisations told him that an agri- discom (power distribution company) carved out for agricultural consumers will specifically cater to the private company's interests. "The parallel license would ensure the private company avoids the obligation of supplying electricity to farmers," he said. Hooda said that Gurugram alone contributed approximately one-third of the total revenue of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN). Handing this region over to private entities would result in a massive revenue loss, thereby undermining the corporation's financial stability, he said....