Vacancies in tribunals: SC asks high courts to hear pleas filed before DRT, DRAT

New Delhi [India], December 16 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the high courts to hear pleas that are filed before Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and the Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT) till the issue regarding non-appointment of members is resolved.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana and Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao ordered, "It was brought to our notice that there are problems regarding non-appointment of members to DRTs, DRATs. To resolve the problem for the being, we request the High Courts to entertain the applications which are to be filed before DRT, DRAT under Article 226. Once Tribunal is constituted, the matters can be relegated back to the Tribunal."
While passing the order, the Bench also noted that a search and selection committee has been constituted and that appointments will be completed shortly.
The apex court was hearing a batch of pleas relating to vacancies at different tribunals across the country.
On the appointment of members in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Attorney General of India K.K. Venugopal appearing for the Centre informed the apex court that 22 appointments will be made in the tribunal by December 31, 2022.
It was informed that out of the 41 names which were recommended for appointment to ITAT in 2019, only 22 have been approved.
The top court then noted that there were 28 recommendations and enquired about the status of the other six. Venugopal said that the six names were not approved after considering police and medical reports.
"Ask your officers to immediately issue appointment orders to the 22 and not delay it because of the six names," CJI told AG and also called for the reasons for not appointing the remaining six names, by the next date of hearing.
The court has now posted the matter for hearing after four weeks. (ANI)