§ 248. Pending actions and proceedings. No action or proceeding
pending on March first, nineteen hundred seventy-one brought by or
against the public service commission or the department of public
service, and pertaining to or connected with the functions, powers,
obligations and duties transferred pursuant to this article, shall be
affected by this article, but the same may be prosecuted or defended in
the name of the department or the commissioner. In all such actions and
proceedings, the department or the commissioner, upon application to the
court, shall be substituted as a party.