India News | 19 Posts of Chairpersons, 221 Posts of Judicial, Technical Members Are Vacant in Tribunals: SC
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. There are 19 vacant posts of presiding officers followed by 110 and 111 unfilled positions of judicial and technical members respectively in fifteen types of quasi-judicial bodies ranging from Debt Recovery Tribunals to National Company Law Tribunals in the country, the Supreme Court said on Friday.
New Delhi, Aug 6 (PTI) There are 19 vacant posts of presiding officers followed by 110 and 111 unfilled positions of judicial and technical members respectively in fifteen types of quasi-judicial bodies ranging from Debt Recovery Tribunals to National Company Law Tribunals in the country, the Supreme Court said on Friday.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana termed non-filling of vacancies at various tribunals a “very sorry state of affairs” and asked the Centre to apprise it within ten days about the steps taken, observing that it suspects “some lobbies have been working” in this regard.
The top court, while expressing its unhappiness over the non-filling of the posts in tribunals, referred to the records as on August 5 on the current pendency in quasi judicial bodies expecting that the Centre may give some good news on August 16 after the Independence Day when it will hear two pleas related to the issue.
As per the records of the apex court, in Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs), which were set up to recover bad loans of banks, there are 15 posts of Presiding officers vacant in the country and its appellate body, DRAT, does not have the Chairperson in Calcutta branch.
The report also indicated that in most of the cases, the selection panels have recommended the names for appointments but they have not been acted upon.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has one vacant post for a technical member, it said, adding the Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property (ATFP) does not have the chairperson and one technical member.
The Telecom Disputes and Settlement Appellate Tribunal [TDSAT] has to appoint two technical members, it said, adding the NCLT lacked one presiding officer, 19 judicial and 14 technical members respectively.
The appellate body, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) does not have the chairperson and needs one judicial and technical member each to work at its optimum strength.
While the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has to get three technical members, the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity lacks one technical member.
Simultaneously, the Armed Forces Tribunals needed 13 judicial and ten technical members, it said, adding that the National Green Tribunals have 14 judicial and 16 technical members less presently.
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has huge vacancies of 25 judicial and 27 technical members, it said.
Presently, the Railway Claims Tribunal needed 20 judicial and 5 technical members, the information provided by the apex court said.
Sixteen technical members are to appointed in the Central Excise Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), it said, adding that the Central Administrative Tribunals have 18 judicial and 14 technical members less from the sanctioned strength.
As per the report, the selection Committee in August last year had recommended four names for two posts of Members in TDSAT and likewise, the selection panel, in May 2020, had recommended names for 11 Judicial Members and 10 Technical Members as also wait list.
It also referred to similar recommendations made with respect to other tribunals for considering the eligible persons for the appointment.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)