Apex court extends tenure of CAT members, says tribunal collapsing

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New Delhi, May 14

Expressing serious concern over vacancies in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), the Supreme Court (SC) has extended the tenure of all incumbent judicial and administrative members of the tribunal till July 26, saying “the entire tribunal has collapsed”.

How will the tribunal work if appointments are not made? You (Centre) floated the advertisement in April and the selection would obviously take some time. It has collapsed and if the remaining members also retire, it would collapse further. The Bench

“How will the tribunal work if appointments are not made? You (Centre) floated the advertisement in April and the selection would obviously take some time. It has collapsed and if the remaining members also retire, it would collapse further,” a Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud said on Friday.

It said against the sanctioned strength of 69 judges, only 27 were there in CAT, leaving 43 vacancies, including the chairperson. If the remaining 27 members of the tribunals also retired, then the tribunal would further collapse. Six CAT Benches, including those at Jabalpur, Cuttack, Lucknow, Jammu and Srinagar, were left with only one member each.

A chart submitted by Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh indicated that further vacancies were due to occur on June 17, June 30 and further vacancies would arise on August 23, September 3, 14, 29 and November 2 and 14, the Bench noted.

Singh said more than 600 applications from candidates had been received against the vacancy circular issued on April 4 and the vacancies would be filled by the end of July. “Pending further orders, the incumbent holding the post of members of the CAT, either judicial or administrative, shall continue to function even after the completion of their tenure subject to their consent and availability,” the Bench ordered.

The Centre said Benches having vacancies were functioning through physical/ hybrid mode and virtual modes by joining members from other Benches.