The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT)-III to submit a report giving details of those cases in which orders have been reserved for more than three months and have not been pronounced as yet.
The order was passed by high court bench of justice JS Puri and Sanjiv Berry while hearing a petition from a firm, Jairath Dyeing and Finishing Mills, that submitted before the court that their matter was reserved for final orders on April 6 and that, almost four months have elapsed, the final order has not been pronounced.
The court also asked the presiding officer, DRT-III, Chandigarh to submit a report regarding the case in hand on the next date of hearing on August 17.
The firm’s counsel, Pankaj Gupta submitted that the apex court has emphasised that every judge shall pronounce the reserved judgment within a reasonable period of time. In this regard the Supreme Court has issued various directions from time to time for guidance of all the courts and tribunals in the country.
It was further alleged that this is not a solitary case where the DRT-III has not pronounced the judgment for a long period. “In most of the reserved cases the judgment is not pronounced for a period of three or more months, whereas in some cases the judgments are pronounced within a short span of one week. Moreover on some occasions the cases where the judgment has been reserved is suddenly fixed for re-hearing without notice to the parties,” the petition alleged.
{{/usCountry}}It was further alleged that this is not a solitary case where the DRT-III has not pronounced the judgment for a long period. “In most of the reserved cases the judgment is not pronounced for a period of three or more months, whereas in some cases the judgments are pronounced within a short span of one week. Moreover on some occasions the cases where the judgment has been reserved is suddenly fixed for re-hearing without notice to the parties,” the petition alleged.
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