Government not respecting our judgements: Supreme Court on delay in appointments to Tribunals

The Supreme Court on Monday said it does not want any confrontation with the Union government but its patience is running out due to delay in appointment in tribunals.

The top court said it was extremely upset with the way the Union government passed the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021 in disregard to its previous judgements.

"The Centre appears to be hell-bent upon not respecting our judgements," a bench presided over by Chief Justice N V Ramana told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, warning of contempt action if appointments were not made within a week.

"We don't want confrontation with government and we are happy with the way SC judges are appointed. These tribunals are collapsing with no members or chairpersons. Tell us your alternate plans. What do you want? Do you want to close down tribunals," the bench also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and D Y Chandrachud asked Mehta.

Maintaining that this was not the intention of the government, Mehta sought adjournment in the batch of petitions including the one filed by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh as Attorney General K K Venugopal was not available.

The bench, however, asked him to argue the matter, saying it was not going to adjourn the matter.

He shared a letter from the Ministry of Finance and said appointments in tribunals would be made within two weeks after the Act came into force.

The bench said the new 2021 Act is the replica of what was struck down in Madras Bar Association cases. The Act, notified on August 13, however, made provisions on appointments in tribunals like fixing tenure of persons to four years and putting a bar on selecting persons below 50 years of age.

"There is no respect for the judgements of this court. It is unfortunate. Last time, you have said that you have appointed some members in the tribunals. How many you have appointed," the bench asked him, adding the government was emasculating the tribunals.

With this, the bench said three steps can be taken now, first- stay the Tribunals Act or close down tribunals, secondly - we ourselves appoint the people or give power to the High Courts, thirdly -issuing the proceedings under the Contempt of Court Act.

The court asked Mehta to take instructions and posted the matter for hearing on Monday, September 13.

On August 6, the court noted vacancies across the tribunals as appointments to the post of 19 presiding officers, 110 judicial members, and 111 technical numbers are pending.

During the hearing on Monday, the bench said tribunals are on the verge of closure due to unavailability of members and presiding officers.

The bench said that NCLT, NCLAT are critical to the economy and they are important for rehabilitation of corporate entities.

It further said important cases are not being heard because of vacancies and by not appointing members at these tribunals creates a very critical position.

Justice Chandrachud, for his part, said that he had chaired a selection committee for National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. “Names which we recommended are either deleted, and there’s no clarity why? We sit together with bureaucrats and make these decisions…it is a waste of energy," he said.