Appoint President of CESTAT – Bar Association writ in Supreme Court
THE Central Excise, Customs & Gold Control Bar Association, through its President D. N. Mehta, has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Government to fill the post of the President of CESTAT. The writ petition was mentioned before the Court No. 1 of the Chief Justice, yesterday. Upon hearing counsel the Court made the following ORDER
“List on 2.3.2009.'
The petitioner submitted that:-
1. On an earlier occasion, the Court had intervened in 1991-92 when the post was lying vacant for a couple of months.
2. After the last President Justice SN Jha had resigned on 3 rd November 2008, the CESTAT is without a President in spite of the fact that a name has been recommended by the Chief Justice of India and is pending before the Cabinet Secretary.
3. On 31st of October 2008, the Ministry of Finance requested the Chief Justice of India to recommend the name of a sitting/retired Chief Justice/senior judge of the High Court for appointment as President of the CESTAT and the Chief Justice is learnt to have recommended some name for the said appointment to the Ministry of Finance.
4. CESTAT is without any President for the last three months with the result that there is a complete breakdown of the administration and chaos all around and even the judicial working of CESTAT is adversely affected and disposal of appeals has considerably declined for many Benches.
5. There are in total 18 posts of Members of CESTAT out of which four posts are vacant as on date. Besides, two Members have opted for VRS and thus 2 more vacancies are likely to arise.
6. In the absence of the President, no Vice-President or Member can be selected/appointed.
7. The tenure of the President is three years or till he attains the age of 65. Therefore a retired Chief Justice/judge of the High Court can have a maximum tenure of 3 years, and if Government, takes months in making appointment after the recommendation by the Hon'ble CJI, this tenure of three years get reduced and the person recommended may become disinterested in the said appointment because of the shortening of his tenure.
8. It is not graceful to make a retired Chief Justice wait indefinitely for the appointment and by the time the order comes, he may lose interest and withdraw consent.
9. Apart from vacancy of the post of President, out of total strength of 18 posts of Members of CESTAT, 4 posts of Members are also vacant, besides these 4 vacancies, 2 Members have recently opted for VRS.
10. In the absence of President, no appeal relating to anti-dumping duty could be decided by the Tribunal because as per section 9C of the Customs Tariff Act, 1962, all Anti dumping appeals are to be heard by a Bench to be headed by the President. These appeals are pending with no bench to hear these appeals. It has serious implications for the Indian economy.
11. Because of the non-appointment of the President, non-filling of four posts of the Members and four posts of the Deputy Registrars, the functioning & disposal of cases at CESTAT has adversely been affected and nearly 40000 appeals have now been accumulated.
The writ petition seeks appropriate directions on the appointment of
1. President
2. Four Members of the Tribunal
3. Four Deputy Registrars.
Hopefully, we will have a President very soon.