The Bombay High Court on Thursday warned the Central government that it will summon the Secretary from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to apprise it regarding the status of appointments of chairperson to Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT) lying vacant.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik said it would summon the Secretary MoF on February 21, to point out the timeline by when the appointments will be made.
CJ remarked: “This is the level of seriousness shown by Ministry of Finance, most important Ministry after Defence and Home. This is now testing our patience. We cannot allow law to become a casualty, justice to become a casualty.”
However, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh requested the Court to grant him one last opportunity to get instructions in order to submit a positive response.
Accepting this contention, the Court adjourned the hearing of the matter to February 21, 2022.
“If we are not told of any positive outcome by then, we would be constrained to call upon the Secretary, Ministry of Finance and responsible officer in Department of Personnel Training for facilitating appointment of chairpersons of DRAT,” noted the HC in its order.
The Court was hearing two writ petitions seeking a direction to be issued to the Central government to appoint a chairperson for the DRAT in Mumbai.
The Court had earlier passed suo motu directions to aid litigants who were left without appellate remedy, due to vacancies in the DRAT rendering it non-functional.
