SC stays retirement of 4 CESTAT members

New Delhi, April 6

Terming their superannuation as “fully unjust”, the Supreme Court on Thursday extended the service of four judicial members of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) — due for retirement this year — till it decided petitions challenging provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021.

CESTAT judicial members P Dinesha, Ajay Sharma, Rachna Gupta and Suvendu Kumar Pati, who originally hailed from district judiciary, joined the tribunal under the old law, and as per the term of appointment, they were to retire at the age of 62 years.

However, under the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, the tenure of a judicial member has been fixed at four years and this has led to a situation where the services of the four judicial members will lapse on April 18, May 1, 3 and 9, respectively. These judicial members cannot be “left in the lurch”, the top court said and posted the matter for further hearing on July 11.

It asked the parties to file their written submissions for final disposal on the next date of hearing. “We are of the considered view that it will be fully unjust to allow the tenure of the four judicial officers to lapse between April 18 and May 9, 2023. Though, some of them may have applied for selection in pursuance of the limited vacancy circular, this cannot deprive them of the right that they are entitled to continue until the age of 62 years, particularly in view of the order of this court dated 21 August, 2018,” a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said, adding the four judicial officers shall remain in service pending the final disposal of the matter.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted on behalf of the CESTAT members that two of them were district judges and had left their job to join the tribunal. “When they were appointed in 2018, their tenure was to be five years or retirement at the age of 62 years, whichever is earlier… Now their premature retirement will be completely illegal and violative of earlier judgments,” he maintained.