BENGALURU: Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) appointed a chairman after a gap of two years, on Tuesday.
The Union government approved the appointment of Justice K Bhakthavatsala, former judge of Karnataka High Court, as chairman of KAT.
Justice Bhakthavatsala is likely to take charge as the chairman at 10.30 am on Wednesday, sources said.
The post had been vacant since December 20, 2013 and the post of administrative members have been vacant since September 1, 2013.
It may be noted that more than 30,000 cases are pending at the KAT. With the appointment of the chairman, the pendency of cases is expected to decrease.
Retired IAS officer V P Baligar’s name was recommended for the post of administrative member on September 5, 2015 but it is still under consideration. Even after the appointment of Baligar, one more administrative member post is remains vacant.
In view of delay in the appointment of the chairman and the post of administrative member lying vacant which is causing inconvenience to litigants, a group of advocates, including K Satish, have filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court that the state government be directed to expedite the process of filling the vacant posts.
It may be recalled that the Centre had rejected the proposal sent by the state government to appoint Justice Nagamohan Das, former Karnataka High Court judge as the Chairman of KAT. Therefore, the state government recommended Justice K Bhaktavathsala’s name to the Union government recently.
Vacation Benches The KAT has constituted vacation benches for winter vacation from December 21 to 31. The office of KAT will function upto 2 pm during the winter vacation.