Government not filling vacancies in tribunals: SC

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said the apex court was “very upset” by the government and slammed the Center for reintroducing the same provisions for the administration of tribunals, which were struck down by the court in July. Was.

“The government is bent on not honoring the orders of this court. In fact the same Act has been re-enacted. We cannot have this situation. The legislature can take away the basis of a decision, but you cannot overturn a decision by reapplying the same provisions. The bench said that the new law may be considered for stay as it is a “replica” of the old law, which was held to be unconstitutional.

The bench lauded the Center for clearing nine names as judges of the Supreme Court within a week. It clarified that it was not looking for “any confrontation with the government”, but said the reluctance to appoint members to the tribunal had rendered most of them virtually inactive.

There are more than 200 vacancies in 15 tribunals in the country.

The court was hearing petitions challenging vacancies in the tribunal and the Tribunal Reforms Bill, which was passed by both the houses in the monsoon session of Parliament. The petitioners include advocate Amit Sahni, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh and Delhi Bar Association. Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vikas Singh appeared for some of the petitioners.

When the hearing began on Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, sought adjournment seeking accommodation (adjournment for another day to enable arguments) for Attorney General KK Venugopal, which was available. was not. The bench turned down the request of the Solicitor General. “There is no respect for the decision of this court. You are testing our patience,” the bench countered, asking Mehta about the number of people appointed to the tribunal since the last hearing two weeks ago.

On this point, Mehta shared with the bench a communication received from the Union Finance Ministry on Monday morning which said that the government would take a decision within two weeks in cases where the search-cum-selection committees for various tribunals made their recommendations. Huh. These committees are headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court and also include secretaries to the government.

Justice Rao asked Mehta why the government had not made appointments to the names sent one-and-a-half years ago, when those recommendations were done strictly in accordance with the rules existing at that time.

“Many tribunals are on the verge of closure. Then, there are tribunals dealing with only one member. See what burden we have to face now. You are weakening the tribunal by not appointing members.”

Justice Chandrachud flagged off vacancies in Company Law Tribunal. “NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) and NCLAT (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) are important for the economy. They are the cornerstone of the rebuilding and restructuring of companies. But due to vacancies, they have not been able to follow the deadline. A very serious situation has arisen.”