CESTAT President Khandeparkar retires - He didn't Speak; He worked
Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.JUSTICE Khandeparkar, born exactly a year before India got independence, will retire from CESTAT this Independence Day. Today would be his last working day in CESTAT. DDT spoke to the Justice on 17.03.2009, when he assumed office as President of CESTAT and asked him for a message. He said, “Judges don't give messages; they work”. Work, he did, but unfortunately, his work brought in a lot of undesirable publicity to the CESTAT. During his tenure two Members of the CESTAT had resigned.
Welcoming Justice Khandeparkar at the Bar, the then Secretary of the Bar Association, RK Jain described the President as not only dynamic but also if needed, a dynamite. This was a prophetic statement; only it is not clear as to who was the dynamite – the President or RK Jain, but the lid was certainly blown off. It may be worth recalling that dynamite was invented by the man who instituted the Nobel Prize for Peace – Alfred Nobel!
The President had then promised that pendency of appeals would be brought down by half by the end of 2009. The crusading editor of ELT, RK Jain ran a series of editorials chronicling the acts of the Hon'ble justice and he pointed out that during his tenure, the pendency increased by 60% and disposal came down by 33%.
CESTAT with its 18 Members is a small Tribunal compared to the ITAT with over 150 Members, but over the years, the CESTAT has earned a reputation as a Tribunal of high standards – let us hope the tradition continues, in spite of minor aberrations.
The new President will have a tough time ahead – we wish him all the best, whoever he is.