Supreme Court Asks Selection Committee To Expedite Appointment Of Chairpersons Of DRAT Allahabad & Calcutta

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana urged the search-cum-selection committee (SCSC) to make an endeavour to complete the selection process within four weeks.

The order was passed after Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, said the extension of tenure cannot be granted beyond the age of 70 years and moreover, the appointment process for the two vacant posts at the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunals (DRATs) at Allahabad and Kolkata has been set in motion.

"We can't keep extending beyond the age of 70," the attorney general said, adding that additional charge could be assigned to existing chairpersons of other tribunals until regular appointments were made.

"The posts of Chairperson of DRAT Allahabad and DRAT Kolkata are presently lying vacant, for which the selection process has now been initiated. The selection committee is headed by a former judge of this Court. We request the committee to expedite the selection process and make an endeavour to complete the same within four weeks," the bench said.

The Court was hearing a batch of petitions concerning vacancies and the functioning of various tribunals.

During the hearing, the CJI asked whether the selection process had commenced.

"The process has been started. The committee has been constituted," the Attorney General replied.

The bench also considered the issue of vacancies in the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), including at its Lucknow Bench.

On the AFT, the attorney general said there were 11 vacancies and that the selection process was already underway.

He said interactions with candidates had been scheduled for October 5 and 6 and that appointments would be completed soon thereafter.

The attorney general opposed the continuation of interim arrangements once the regular selection process was underway, saying the solution to vacancies lay in completing appointments expeditiously.

On September 21, the Court had directed the Centre to furnish details of vacancies in tribunals, particularly the DRATs, after being informed that several tribunals were facing functional difficulties because of vacancies and impending retirements.

The bench had observed that the issue was one of access to justice and that tribunals should not become defunct because of vacancies.

The Centre had earlier informed the court that there were around 90 vacancies in various tribunals and that the SCSC was seized of the process for filling 81 of them.