HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the Department of Personnel & Training, the Ministry of Personnel Public Grievances and others in a petition filed challenging the rules and practises governing the recruitment of members to Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
Petitioner B Gurudas, an attorney and president of the Central Administrative Tribunal Bar Association, in his petition brought up the legal question of how someone without legal expertise could be appointed as a judicial member of the tribunal.
According to Section 6 (2) (b) of the Administrative Tribunals Act, the judicial member shall not be a member of the Administrative Tribunal unless he is or is qualified to be a judge of a High Court or he has held the position of Member-Secretary, Law Commission of India for at least two years, or Additional Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Legal Affairs and Legislative Department at least for a period of five years.
The petitioner submitted it is ultra vires to select someone who has only held administrative positions without having a background in law and that the judicial member must be recruited from the legal profession.