A Supreme Court Division Bench comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose on Monday issued notice to the Central government on a plea challenging the Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal and other Authorities (Qualifications, Experience and other Conditions of Service of Members) Amendment Rules, 2021.
The petition was filed by the Debts Recovery Tribunal Bar Association, Delhi challenged the rules to the extent it excludes advocates from applying for the post of presiding officer in Debt Recovery Tribunals and Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal. The plea was filed through advocate Viresh Saharya.
The petition said that the rules are illegal and arbitrary since the same rules allow advocates to be appointed judicial member, presiding officer/chairman for nine tribunals and appellate tribunals.
The plea also stated that based on these rules, Centre has now issued advertisement dated July 2021 inviting applications for post of presiding officer for Debt Recovery Tribunals all over India excluding advocates "which is completely contrary to Supreme Court judgment."
The petitioner, therefore, sought interim direction to allow lawyers to apply for the same. Senior Counsel Rakesh Kumar Khanna, appearing for the petitioner, pressed for interim relief to the effect that applications to be filed by advocates should be entertained.
The Court issued notice on the petition but refused to grant any interim relief, "Mr. Rakesh Kumar Khanna submits that an advertisement has been issued seeking application for appointment of presiding officer of DRT and the last date for submitting applications is August 24. He seeks an interim relief to the effect that applications to be filed by advocates should be entertained. We are afraid that we cannot pass such an interim order before we hear arguments on validity of the Rules," the order said.
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