Govt directed to recruit staff at Transport Appellate Tribunal

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the state government to initiate the process for filling the staff posts at the State Transport Appellate Tribunal in accordance with the Recruitment and Promotion Rules on or before May 15.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma directed the government that till regular appointments were made, the availability of steno(s) and judgment writer(s) be ensured by deployment/re-employment/transfer of competent steno typists and judgment writers to the Appellate Tribunal.

The court ordered the government that because the work of the Appellate Tribunal was totally dependent on steno typist(s) and judgment writer(s), in the absence of incumbents on these posts, the functioning of the tribunal would be impossible.

The court directed the state to do the needful by April 4 and listed the matter for further hearing on April 7. It passed the order on an application filed in this regard.

While passing the order, the court observed that “it is apt to record that vide notification dated March 21, 2025, Rajesh Tomar, District and Sessions Judge, was transferred and posted as Chairman-cum-Member, Transport Appellate Tribunal, Hamirpur. The said officer is likely to join office on or before April 4. Therefore, it will be a matter of serious concern that after the posting and joining of the Judicial Officer/Presiding Officer, he shall not be able to perform his duty at the Appellate Tribunal due to the paucity of necessary staff.”