The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to consider extending tenure of retiring presiding officers and members of tribunals for a month or so till the fresh appointments are made, observing that the tribunals should not become defunct owing to vacancies in these tribunals which directly affect litigants.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was hearing a batch of petitions relating to the vacancies and functioning of tribunals across the country.
The Centre through Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani, top law officer appearing for the Centre, submitted before the apex court that the process for fresh appointments has been set in motion and no plea for ad hoc extension should be entertained.
Hearing these submissions, the CJI Kant observed, "We understand the process is on. But tribunals cannot become defunct. If a member is retiring in a week and new appointment will take a month, why not extend for a month? Consider it."
The AG was responding to the submissions of the lawyer pertaining to vacancies in various tribunals, including Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT) where some members are retiring soon.
The top law officer further submitted that the Search-cum-Selection Committees have been constituted and interviews are underway for several tribunals, including DRTs (Debt Recovery Tribunals), DRATs, CAT (Central Administrative Tribunal), NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) and others. He said that the government is committed to filling up vacancies expeditiously.
The Bench said it was not inclined to pass judicial order at present directing extensions, but was requesting the government to consider it as administrative measure to ensure continuity of justice delivery.
The Court noted that the vacancies in tribunals directly affect litigants, particularly in debt recovery, company law, service matters and customs matters where stakeholders suffer due to non-functioning benches.
During the hearing, Advocates pointed out that in DRAT Allahabad and DRAT Delhi, presiding officers are scheduled to retire this month, which would leave appellate tribunals without quorum.
The Bench asked the Centre to file a fresh status report within two weeks indicating timeline for appointments and whether government is willing to consider short-term extensions till fresh appointments are notified.
The top court -- which has long been monitoring tribunal vacancies -- fixed the matter for further hearing after two weeks.