Jishnu Barua Appointed CERC Chairperson

The former chief secretary to the Assam government, Jishnu Barua was on Friday given charge of a new role as the Centre appointed him as the chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

Jishnu Barua will be succeeding PK Pujari, whose extended tenure in the CERC got over in June, 2022. Following the end of his term, the CERC remained without a chief for nearly eight months, after which the appointment of Barua was announced.

The former Assam chief secretary’s appointment to the new role comes at a time when India is bracing for a sharp increase in its electricity demand as the country prepares for the summers in the coming months. The government has predicted the peak power demand to hit 229 GW in April.

The Union power ministry put forward the name of Jishnu Barua to be appointed as the new chairperson of CERC and it was approved and notified by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on February 23.

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It may be noted that the CERC is responsible for regulating and determining tariffs for inter-state transmission of electricity, issuing licenses to people to function as transmission licensees and electricity traders with respect to their inter-state operations.

Jishnu Barua is a 1988 batch IAS officer of the Assam-Mehalaya cadre. He retired as the chief secretary to the government of Assam in August, last year.

He was appointed to the position in October 2020. Prior to that he had worked in various capacities in both the Assam and the central governments.

Jishnu Barua served as the additional chief secretary, in charge of home and political, revenue and DM secretariat administration (archives) and border protection and development, as well as the implementation of Assam Accord departments.

During his time as the chief secretary of Assam, Jishnu Barua was also overlooking the massive Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) recruitment scam.

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