A Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Friday confronted the Centre with a list of 240 vacancies of Chairpersons, Judicial and Technical Members in tribunals across the country.
Thousands of cases dealing with specialised laws are pending in these tribunals. Tribunals were formed to take the load off high courts and to expedite justice for citizens.
The one-page list referred to by the CJI in open court laid bare how vacancies were choking tribunals.
The vacancies have not been filled despite recommendations of names by selection committees headed by sitting Supreme Court judges.
The list produced by Chief Justice Ramana revealed, among others, that Debt Recovery Tribunals across the country have 15 vacancies for chairpersons.
These vacancies include three vacant posts in Chandigarh and Delhi each and one each in Chennai, Cuttack, Ernakulam, Kolkata, Patna, Pune, Nagpur, Jabalpur and Dehradun. The chairperson's post in Kolkata's Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal is also vacant.
Other tribunals without chairpersons are the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, the Telecom Disputes and Settlement Appellate Tribunal and the Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property.
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has 25 vacancies for judicial members and 27 for technical members.
Railway Claims Tribunal has a total 25 vacancies. The National Green Tribunal has a total 30 vacancies. Central Administrative Tribunal has a total of 32 vacancies.
Similarly, the National Company Law Tribunal has 19 vacancies for judicial members and 14 for technical members.
The crucial Armed Forces Tribunal, which heads disputes within the Forces, has a total 23 vacancies for judicial and technical members.
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