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All tribunals should be abolished if Centre can’t man them: Supreme Court
“Till the government wakes up and appoints members to the tribunals, we feel this court should stay all litigation under all legislation where members of the tribunal have not been appointed…,” the Supreme Court said.
All tribunals should be abolished if the Union government cannot care enough to man them, an anguished Supreme Court said on Thursday, adding that the top court could consider staying all litigation under relevant laws where tribunals cannot function due to shortage of members.
“Till the government wakes up and appoints members to the tribunals, we feel this court should stay all litigation under all legislation where members of the tribunal have not been appointed… The government is the creator of the tribunal and now the creator of the problems by not appointing members of these tribunals,” commented a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh.
There can be no merit in the government’s submission that tribunals can help in quick disposal of cases when there are no members in the tribunals to decide cases, it added.
“If the legislature, which has created tribunals, doesn’t have people to work, why have them at all? If you don’t want to appoint anyone, abolish tribunals. We have been saying this repeatedly that all tribunals should be abolished if members cannot be appointed… Don’t say we are creating tribunals for quick disposal of cases when there is nobody to dispose of anything,” the bench told additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju.
The ASG was appearing for the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in a multi-crore fraud case when the vacancies in the tribunal hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) were pointed out to the court.
Senior counsel Siddharth Dave and advocate Krishna Kumar Singh appeared for a party whose property had been attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to pay out defrauded investors. The lawyers pointed out that they have challenged the order of provisional attachment of their property before the PMLA tribunal which has not been functional due to vacancies. Dave added that all these cases are, thus, reaching the doorstep of the high courts since the PMLA tribunal is not able to decide them.
At this, the court regretted the state of affairs where several tribunals are rendered defunct just because the government has not made appointments .
“We wonder if we should stay all proceedings in the high courts too till the appointments are made. Why should we trouble the high courts when tribunals cannot function because of vacancies? We can understand if there are some delays in some tribunals but that’s not the case here. Most of the tribunals are there without members and they can’t function at all,” the bench told the Centre’s law officer.
It added that there is no purpose of establishing tribunals when everything has to be dealt with by high courts eventually. “The Chief Justice of India is already seized of the matter relating to appointments in tribunals. That bench is monitoring the appointments… Do something,” the bench told Raju.
The court’s strictures on Thursday are the latest in the top court’s continued criticism of the central government over massive vacancies in tribunals across the country.
The “bureaucratic hurdle” has impeded filling vacancies in consumer courts and officers responsible for this must be penalised to get things moving, the Supreme Court said on February 23 when it imposed varying monetary fines up to ₹1.5 lakh on several states for not making appointments in these courts within the fixed timeline.
In October last year, the bench reproached the Union government for creating an “imbroglio” over the functioning of the tribunals and making “citizens suffer in the bargain”, observing that it should abolish all tribunals if the judiciary is compelled to make appointments in these bodies to keep them alive. The bench called it “very unfortunate” that the Supreme Court is being called on to fill vacancies in tribunals, which is the primary job of the government that has framed legislations and rules for these forums.
It also referred to the August 11, 2021 order laying down a timeline of eight weeks for filling up of around 800 vacancies in consumer courts across the country, adding the schedule should be strictly adhered to by the Centre and states. Subsequently, the court started monitoring the progress of making appointments, directing states to submit their status reports with respect to vacancies and creation of sufficient infrastructure.
A CJI-led bench had in August and September 2021 put the Union government in the dock over “making tribunals virtually defunct” by not filling up vacancies. The government is “emasculating tribunals” by not filling up vacancies in them, it said while hearing a separate bunch of cases. The CJI-led bench is also taking stock of appointments across various tribunals.
“You cannot deny access to justice. How can people be left in the lurch? This is the problem everywhere. We are waiting very patiently. You have to make appointments to the tribunals,” the bench had told attorney general KK Venugopal on September 15, lashing out at the government for not acting on recommendations made by search and selection committees (SCSCs) for appointments to tribunals.
