New Delhi, Sep 15 (PTI): The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it has made 84 appointments in six tribunals including the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and no recommendations of the Search cum Selection Committees (SCSC) are pending with it presently.
The assertions made by the Centre in its affidavit filed on September 14 assume significance in view of the fact that the Supreme Court today expressed strong displeasure over non-filling of vacancies at the tribunals and “cherry picking” of names in some of the appointments made recently after being nudged.
A special bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana asked the Centre to fill up vacancies in the next two weeks.
The affidavit, filed through Mr Arvind Saran, Director of Revenue, said, “As on date, the Central government has acted upon all the recommendations made by the SCSC and appointment orders have been issued.”
The Centre also gave the chart giving the details of appointments made in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, National Company Law Tribunal, Telecom Disputes and Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) and Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).
“In all, a total of 84 appointments were made to various tribunals during the years 2020 and 2021,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit first referred to the recommendations and appointments made in the National Company Law Tribunal by the Centre.
The Search cum Selection Committees recommended 11 Judicial members and 10 technical members and the Centre has appointed eight judicial members and 10 technical members, it said.
So far as the Telecom Disputes and Settlement Appellate Tribunal is concerned, the Search cum Selection Committee made recommendations against two vacancies and the Centre appointed one member, it said.
In the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, the committee recommended names of 16 judicial and 12 accountant members and the Centre has appointed six judicial and seven accountant members, it added.
In the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the Search cum Selection Committee has recommended four judicial and two technical members and out of them, two judicial and two technical members have been appointed, the affidavit said.
Likewise in the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, one technical member, as recommended by the committee, has been appointed, the affidavit said, adding that in the Armed Forces Tribunal, the Centre appointed six judicial members and five administrative members were appointed earlier.
For the remaining vacancies, the affidavit said that the committees will have to make fresh recommendations.
As per the August 5 data of the Supreme Court, there were 19 vacant posts of presiding officers followed by 110 and 111 unfilled positions of judicial and technical members respectively in fifteen types of quasi-judicial bodies, ranging from Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) to National Company Law Tribunals in the country.
As per the records, in Debt Recovery Tribunals, which were set up to recover bad loans of banks, there are 15 posts of presiding officers vacant in the country and its appellate body, Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT), does not have the Chairperson in Calcutta branch.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has one vacant post for a technical member, it had said, adding the Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property (ATFP) does not have the chairperson and one technical member.