Mumbai, Aug 17 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Wednesday pulled up the Maharashtra government for not providing official residential accommodations to the president and judicial members of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

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A division bench of Justices K R Shriram and A S Doctor was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the 'Consumer Courts Advocates Association' seeking directions to the state government to allot residential accommodations for the president and two judicial members of the commission.

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The court on Wednesday noted that the state's General Administration Department (GAD) cannot be unaware of appointment of the president of the State Consumer Commission of Mumbai and two judicial members whose headquarters have been changed to Mumbai.

The bench directed the Principal Secretary (GAD) to file an affidavit replying to the petition and posted the matter for further hearing on August 19. The court directed the Maharashtra government's Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to appear before it on that day.

The court pointed out that there have been many such complaints from judicial members and said the state government was not paying attention to issues faced by the judiciary.

The petitioner's lawyer, Uday Warunjikar, on Wednesday told the court that in May 2022, Justice S P Tavade, a retired HC judge, was appointed president of the commission but till date he has not been provided with an official accommodation.

Warunjikar said the judicial members of the commission, who travel to Mumbai from Nagpur and Aurangabad every fortnight, as their headquarters have been changed, too, are not provided with any

accommodation.

"The present president of the commission had made an application to the state government for allotment of official accommodation but no decision has been taken so far," the PIL said, adding even other infrastructural facilities have not been made available.

This may cause disruption in the smooth functioning of the commission, the plea said.

(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)