New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to take steps for filling up the vacant posts of Members in the Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act within three months.

Justice Prathiba M Singh also asked the Central government to take steps to fill up the vacancies on the administrative side of the tribunal, through fresh recruitment or alternate means, within one month.

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The judge, who was hearing a batch of petitions concerning the freezing of bank accounts of the petitioners' companies, sought status reports in respect of the steps taken for appointments within two months and filling up of vacancies and further asked the Centre to consider if the staff strength needed to be increased.

The court recorded that while the current quantum of work at the Adjudicating Authority was quite substantial, with 230 cases being filed from January to August this year, there was an acute shortage of staff members as also vacancies at the level of the Chairperson, Member (Administration) and Member (Law) as well as Administrative Officer, Registrar, and the Court Master.

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It said there was a need to increase the manpower with the Authority to enable it to function efficiently.

“Considering the fact that benches of the Adjudicating Authority hold hearings, and the quantum of cases is considerable, it is not sufficient to merely fill up the vacancies as they exist today, but there is also a need to increase the manpower within the Adjudicating Authority, in order to enable the authority to function efficiently,” said the judge in the September 28 order.

Counsel for the Centre stated that the process for the selection for the Chairperson was underway and was likely to conclude shortly.

The court was further informed that for the positions of Member (Administration) and Member (Law), the proposal for issuance of vacancy circulars was under consideration.

“Since these positions (for Members) have been vacant for a considerable period of time, the Government is directed to take steps for filling up the said posts, within a period of three months,” the court said.

Noting that the vacancies for Administrative Officer and Registrar were yet to be filled despite issuance of vacancy circulars, and court masters and working staff were also retained on a contractual basis, the court further ordered, “if these vacancies cannot be filled up through fresh recruitment, the Ministry (of Finance) shall take steps to fill up all these vacancies through alternate means, within a period of one month from today.”

The status reports will be taken up for consideration next on November 30.

(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)