The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticised the Centre for “cherry picking” names from its recommendations for the tribunals as it gave a two-week deadline to the government for completing the process.
Chief Justice NV Ramana, during the hearing, said: “I have seen the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) appointments…. more recommendations were made. But in (the) appointments, cherry picking was done. What kind of selection is this? And the same thing (has been) done with (the) ITAT (Income Tax Appellate Tribunal) members also.”
Search and Selection Committees (SCSCs) are headed by various Supreme Court judges who shortlist candidates for appointment and then send it to the government for clearance.
The Court was hearing a batch of petitions highlighting the vacancies in various tribunals besides challenging the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021 laying down the tenures and other service conditions of tribunal members.
The Court had on September 6 slammed the government for failing to fill vacancies and given an ultimatum to the government to act on the recommendations made by SCSC or face contempt of court. Subsequently, the Centre had cleared appointment of 18 members to the NCLT, 13 to the ITAT and 6 to the AFT.
In an affidavit filed before the top court on Tuesday, the Centre told the Court that it has acted upon all the recommendations made by SCSCs for appointment of members to various tribunals. However, the Bench did not seem happy.
Senior Advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for one of the petitioners said only 13 members have been appointed to ITAT. “On what basis have they been selected,” he asked.
The CJI said that the Court is very unhappy with how the Centre was acting upon the recommendations. He also highlighted the efforts by SCSCs during COVID period to zero in on candidates.
“We are very much unhappy about how recommendations are being acted upon. We interviewed 530 candidates for judicial members and 400 plus for technical in NCLAT. We traveled across the country. During COVID your govt requested us to conduct interviews and we wasted so much time during COVID,” the CJI said.
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