CHENNAI: Staff shortage and inadequate infrastructure have been crippling timely and speedy disposal of cases, leading to huge pendency in the Chennai Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
More than 30 posts, including five stenographers, two personal secretaries, and two drivers, have been remaining vacant for a long. The worst scenario is that the Bench is functioning without a registrar who plays a key role in carrying out the administrative duties, sources said.
They said the existing staff have to endure a lot of pressure due to the work burden. A personal secretary has to do the role of a stenographer to note down dictation when the members pronounce an order. He also has to double up as court master. Even the shortage of drivers is affecting the timely arrival of members to the Bench.
“The present state of affairs in the registry, either in the filing section or other sections, is in a muddle, and the inconvenience caused to the advocates is inexplicable,” Service Bar Association alleged in a recent resolution. As per available information, the pendency of cases stands at 6, 047, and disposal is 11,275 out of 17,324 cases filed.
For the huge pendency of cases, the Bar has pointed fingers towards an administrative member, charging him of being “fond of adjourning every matter listed daily” on flimsy reasons. The advocates accuse him of piling up orders in more than 165 cases, despite reserving the verdict and question his “competence” and “judicial acumen”.
About 1,500 fresh petitions are filed every year but the disposal rate is just 20%, and it is very poor in the last one year. Mandated to deal with service matters of Central government employees like suspension, dismissal from service, pension, promotion and regularisation, the delay in disposal is also causing financial loss to the government.
Service Bar Association president, L Chandrakumar, said though the association has brought the issues to the notice of the chairperson of the CAT principal Bench in Delhi, no action has been taken so far. “They have just appointed one judicial member recently,” he said. Of the sanctioned strength of four members, the Bench is now having only three and the third member was appointed very recently as a stop-gap arrangement.
Chandrakumar stressed the need for effective measures to address the issues in the CAT’s Chennai Bench and to fill the vacancy of the administrative member so that the tribunal could work in full swing and check the growing case pendency rate.
When asked, a top official of the CAT principal bench in Delhi told TNIE, “All the issues have been brought to the notice of the higher authorities, and steps are being taken to address them.” “Staff shortage is not a problem of Chennai Bench alone. It has been looked into at the highest level, and solutions will be found soon,” he added.
Referring to the Bar’s charge on a particular member of accumulating cases, the officer said the matter might have been noticed at the highest level and instructions could have been passed. “I cannot comment on that,” he added.